29-04-2022

FESTIVALS: Art Film Fest Košice Cancels 2022 Edition

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    Art Film Fest Art Film Fest photo: Kunsthalle

    KOŠICE: The organisers of the 29th edition of Art Film Fest Košice, which was planned to take place 17-24 June 2022 in Košice, have announced that they are canceling the event less than two months before its start, due to insufficient funding.

    More than 200,000 EUR were still needed in order to organise the festival at a standard range and with the expected quality. „Since the autumn of 2021, we have addressed several dozen public and private companies and firms. The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and mostly the significant increase in energy costs, impacted the sponsors' decisions to refuse or, often, to give a symbolic financial support,“ said producer of the festival Ján Kováčik.

    The 29th edition was ready to follow the tradition of the festival, as the audience last experienced it in 2019. In his statement, the artistic director Peter Nagel explained that reducing the programme, the number of the guests and the number of screening places was not the solution: „The complete programme was ready. Some foreign guests and professionals in the juries were invited and already confirmed their participation, and the final phases of the whole event were coordinated. However, with a definitive knowledge of the financial situation, there was logically only one possible verdict."

    The organisers say that they are already starting to work to get the festival back in full form in 2023.