The oldest festival of its kind, Zlin also boasts one of the largest cinemas, the 2,500 seat salle that has hosted the opening and closing night televised ceremonies for decades.

Among the high profile jury members are Ivo Mathe, the current chair of the Czech Film and TV Academy; Chicago International Children’s Film Festival programme director Ann Vikstrom; Czech animated film director Jiri Barta; Slovene director Miha Hocevar and Slovak director Mira Fornay.

The Zlin festival has five competitive sections for live action and animated films for children and for youth, along with a competition of European debuts focusing on adolescent heroes.

A highlight of the festival will be the marking of the 80th anniversary of Zlin’s film studio with its focus on animation, including a gala evening event and an entire section of films created at the studio in the festival programme.

This year’s country focus will put the spotlight on France, screening a treasure of French classics. Accompanying the festival will be an industry programme event highlighting efforts to develop regional film production in the Zlin Region and create an international network of coproduction animation studios for future projects.