Starting on Tuesday, April 17th at the Film and TV Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava is this intense event, which can pique the interest of viewers by offering not only big names of worldwide cinematography, classics and specialties of film but also an unmatched film festival atmosphere which is hard to replicate.

The 7th annual of Visegrad Film Forum for young filmmakers, students and film enthusiasts worldwide will offer an unusual audio-visual programme over the course of five days. This programme will be composed of lectures, film screenings and discussions with six renowned guests. It will set up a platform for collaborations of young filmmakers and it will support a mutual dialogue. This event also takes care of an informal evening programme composed of parties that can attract by offering a large scale of musical genres and performers.

For the fans of European classics 

Three Colors: Blue (1993) starring French actress Juliette Binoche will be the opening movie for this year´s Visegrad Film Forum. The first part of the trilogy inspired by the Great French Revolution, directed by a true legend of Polish cinematography Krzystof Kieślovski will be personally introduced by its DOP Slawomir Idziak. The renowned cinematographer will let the visitors in on the art of transforming a literary script into film form. He will comment on his experience with Hollywood production after the screening of the futuristic film Gattaca (1997), starring the young Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law. This artist Oscar-nominated for the movie Black Hawk Down (2001) has made several movies with the director Ridley Scott – for example Proof Of Life (2000) a King Arthur (2004) and even one movie of the popular wizard series Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (2007).

For the sci-fi fans 

British editor Mick Audsley, known for his cooperation with the director of fantasy movies Terry Gilliam, will hold a lecture about how a movie is made in the editing room and about the hidden power of movie material. Characters of Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis will come alive in the apocalyptic world of Twelve Monkeys (1995) and there will be a following discussion about the movie. Audsley worked on movies such as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). He was also nominated for a BAFTA for the movie Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and won BAFTA for The Snapper (1993) directed by Stephen Frears.

For the blockbusters fans 

Icelandic art director and architect Eggert Ketilsson will talk about his work with Christopher Nolan and the meaning of production design and elements of mise en scene. This filmmaker’s portfolio is made out of blockbusters like Dunkirk (2017) with mupltiple nominations for Academy Awards, Batman Begins (2005) and Interstellar (2014). The list continues with Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001), Thor: Dark World (2012) a Transformers: Last Knight, but also new Star Wars: The force awakens (2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

For the fans of local cinematography 

Cinematography of Central Europe will be represented by well-known documentary director and music composer from Poland. Workshop about discovering the magic of reality and screening of short film section among which is one that was nominated for an Academy Award, will be held by one of the most admired filmmakers of Polish production Marcel Lozinski. Composer Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz will host a workshop about shaping mood of the film scene. Young music composer can pride himself in working with an important contemporary director Agniezska Holland, with whom he collaborated on the Academy Award nominated film In darkness  (2011), co-produced Pokot (2017), or adaptation of Janosik – A True Story (2009) known especially among Slovak audience. During our event, he will introduce cinema version of the popular miniseries from HBO production Burning Bush (2013) and explain the creation of its soundtrack.

For the film noir fans and the ones which are looking for inspiration

Young French director Joan Chemla will talk about her journey from journalism to shooting her debut film If you saw his heart starring Mexican film star Gael García Bernal. Not only she fulfilled her dreams but she premiered her debut on prestige Toronto film festival. She will describe the production of her dark film noir melodrama and the follow-up presentations at the world known film festivals.

For the student talents fans

Visegrad Film Forum 2018 is renewing the concept of European film schools’ students meeting each other. Refreshing student films will be screened in unexpected pairings, which connect V4 countries with the rest of Europe.  Students will communicate the circumstances and terms in which the films were born during the discussion led by film theorists of Polish University in Lodz. Friendly encounters of future filmmakers can be seen in following blocks: Czech FAMU Prague a Slovenian UL AGRFT Ljubljana, Hungarian SZFE Budapest a Finnish OAMK Oulu, Polish WRiTv Katowice a Latvian  LMTA Vilnius and students from local FTF VŠMU Bratislava and film school from Bosnia and Herzegovina ASU Sarajevo.

For the night life fans 

Get to know genius loci of Bratislava’s night clubs and bars which will host five juicy music events throughout the five days. Tuesday will be haunted by retro rock’n’roll spirit in Kafé Scherz, Wednesday offers pop guilty pleasures and eclectic electronica in Bukowski Bar, and on Thursday in collaboration with Fjúžn festival we will introduce Argentinian band Colectivo Panamera along with Slovak Bad Karma Boy. On Friday we will continue with exploring New Cvernovka venue again with festival Fjúžn and DJs who mash up different tracks and various cultural influences. After the string of concerts and parties we will finish on Saturday at Subclub with mad techno beats from resident DJs of Berlin, Milan  and Serbian clubs. 

Visegrad Film Forum 2018

Date: April 17-21, 2018
Place: Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Venue: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU

web: http://www.visegradfilmforum.com

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisegradFilmForum

instagram: @vffbratislava #vff2018 #morethanyouexpect

Spot 2018 youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aszBejEzPH0

The 31^st edition of Finále Plzeň film festival has prepared almost 135 films, which will be offered to audiences in Plzeň from 19^th to 24^th April 2018.

The festival features 6 premieres and pre-premieres. They include The Hastrman – the directing debut of Ondřej Havelka, Saša Dlouhý's documentary  God Forsaken, Slovak epic biopic about Dubček, and May the Lord Be with Us, a historical film by Zdeněk Jiráský. And the list is completed by a pre-premiere of David Ondříček's television film, Dukla 61, and Jan Gebert's docudrama When the War Comes.

Once again, the program section of Czech Traces in International Co-productions will present films from abroad made in Czech co-productions. Visitors can look forward to projects from Austria (Home Is Here), Latvia and Finland (The Chronicles of Melanie), as well as India (The Ring). Slovak production is also worth the attention, represented at the festival by last year's DOGG, Filthy, and Kidnapping. The documentary genre is present as well, featuring time-lapse films such as Ten Years of Love and Bye Bye Children's Home. Riding the Wave section introduces a selection of the newest films made in 2018, Finále will screen the breathtaking documentary about Czech nature called Wilder than Wilderness, and Petr Horký's directing debut, The Russian Job, about the clash of Western thinking and Russian mentality.

Just like every year, the festival will culminate with the award ceremony of the Golden Kingfisher awards. For the very first time, the awards will go also to students films of up to 40 minutes length. Apart from the glass prizes, the winners will also receive a financial award, and the student section winner will get an in-kind contribution of CZK 100.000 from the award partner, Magic Lab. The winners will be decided by 4 juries consisting of 14 experts from abroad. The chairman of the main jury will be Tomasz Wasilewski, a Polish scriptwriter and director and the winner of the Silver Bear for the best screenplay at Berlinale International Film Festival. The invitation has been accepted also by actress Alexandra Borbély, the winner of the European Film Award for the Best Actress for her performance in the Oscar-nominated On Body and Soul. The juries also include the Romanian documentary director and film producer Monica Lãzurean-Gorgan, the documentary producer Oliver Sertić, Katarzyna Wilk who leads the industry platform at Krakow film festival, and the Program Director of Festival of Slovenian Film in Celje, Igor Palcic. The Czech filmmakers and actors visiting the festival will be for example Miroslov Krobot, Lenka Krobotová, Aňa Geislerová, Pavel Nový, Zuzana Kronerová, Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda, Taťjana Medvecká, Jan Hřebejk, and many others.

Eva Veruňková Kosařová, the Festival Director, adds to the program: “The 31^st edition keeps this year's motto, it truly is the grande finale of Czech and Slovak production. After all, it's the 120^th anniversary of Czech cinema. And I believe every visitor will find something to enjoy.”

Thanks to the accompanying program, several places will come to life in Plzeň at the same time. In the Pilsner Urquell Brewery, we commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Miroslav Horníček's birth by screening historically the first interactive film project, Kinoautomat: On Man and His House. The Prague Film Orchestra will play in the venue of DEPO2015 bus hall, and Klára Vytisková will perform in Anděl Music Bar. “The news of this year's edition will be silent cinema, an outside screening of an iconic film with live music,” adds Peter Badač, the festival's Artistic Director, continuing: “The park of Kopeckého sady in front of the Měšťanská beseda venue will see two exceptional silent films, prepared in cooperation with Papírna. The music, composed just for this occasion, will be provided by DJs on the spot. Gustav Machatý's exceptional Eroticon will be accompanied by DJ Bartesky and his electro swing mix, and Tuzex Christ will play for St. Wenceslas, a film from 1929 which was the most epic cinematic experience of its time. The picture, whose creation was initiated by T. G. Masaryk on the 1000^th anniversary of St. Wenceslas's death, includes hundreds of extras as well as the largest film buildings in Europe in the 1920s.”

More information about the festival is available at www.festivalfinale.cz

Already 162 films, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe including the Caucasus Region and Turkey, are shown at this year’s sixth edition of LET’S CEE in Vienna and meanwhile also in Graz, Salzburg and Villach. There will be 50 Austrian premieres in the four strong main competitions alone. All together the festival will present more than 140 Austrian premieres.