The 31st edition of Finále Plzeň film festival has prepared almost 135 films, which will be offered to audiences in Plzeň from 19th to 24th 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 31st edition keeps this year's motto, it truly is the grande finale of Czech and Slovak production. After all, it's the 120th 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 1000th 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