The Slovak Film Institute strongly condemns the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine's sovereignty and expresses solidarity and full support for its people. It is unthinkable for us that the lives of our Ukrainian colleagues, as well as all the people of Ukraine, are in direct danger and their rights and freedoms, both as individuals and as a nation, are being ignored.

The Slovak Film Institute, as a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and European Film Promotion (EFP), in solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues, hereby:

- suspends all presentation activities of Slovak cinema in the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,
- suspends all presentation activities of Russian and Belarusian cinema on the territory of the Slovak Republic,
- suspends granting of licenses for the public distribution of audiovisual works or parts of audiovisual works in respect of which it exercises producer's rights,
- suspends the participation of representatives of the Slovak Film Institute in film events in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and in the juries of film festivals in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,
- suspends the screenings of Russian and Belarusian films in the programme of Kino Lumière – the cinema of the Slovak Film Institute and the Filmotheque - the Study Screening Room of the Slovak Film Institute in Kino Lumière, including events organised by external subjects in Kino Lumière.

The Slovak Film Institute further proposes to the relevant entities:
- to suspend the screenings of Russian and Belarusian films in the programmes of Slovak film festivals,
- to suspend the submissions of Slovak films to the programmes of Russian and Belarusian film festivals,
- to suspend the participation of representatives of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at the events and in the juries of film festivals in the Slovak Republic,
- to suspend the participation of Slovak film professionals at the events and in the juries of Russian and Belarusian film festivals.

Peter Dubecký
General Manager
Slovak Film Institute

The Ji.hlava IDFF kicks of a special online event to support Ukraine. From Monday to Sunday, it will offer a selection of films that help to explain contexts of the post-Soviet space. The selection includes My Unknown Soldier by Ukrainian director Anna Kryvenko, Foundation Pit by Russian director Andrey Gryazev, and My Granny from Mars by Belarussian director Alexandr Mihalkovich. Each day until the end of the week one film will be available for free.  “Documentary film is a key instrument that helps us get oriented in the world around,” says Marek Hovorka, director of the Ji.hlava IDFF. The films are available at DAFilms.com; each day, one of the included film titles will be offered for free.

International Echoes of the 25^th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will kick off on 8^th March in New York. The programme loaded with films will then hit screens in Brussels, Ghent, Bucharest, and Paris. The Echoes are held in partnership with Czech Centers network and will have a hybrid form – held both live and online. Visitors of the live Ji.hlava Echoes can look forward to award-winning films of the Ji.hlava IDFF’s 25th edition, discussions with filmmakers and masterclasses

“We are happy that the Echoes will allow us to bring Czech and foreign films that won awards in Ji.hlava to international audiences and interconnect filmmakers with local professionals and audiences,” says director of Ji.hlava IDFF, Marek Hovorka.

Highlights of Echoes in New York 

The Bohemian National Hall at 73rd Street hosts the onsite screenings in New York. They include an awarded documentary Brotherhood (Wed, March 9) by young Italian director Francesco Montagner, which tells the tale of three brothers on the threshold of adulthood, grappling with their unsettling father-master. The audiences can look forward also to Gorbachev.Heaven (Tue, March 8) by Russian director Vitaly Mansky, which won a special mention for the best film about politics, and an animated documentary Love, Dad (Wed, March 9) by Diana Cam Van Nguyen about ties and gaps between a child and a parent. New York’s Echoes will be topped off with a „documentary anatomy of a mass murder“ Eyewitness (Thu, March 10) directed by Czech director Jiří Havelka who will be present to introduce his film and join Q&As. The screenings will be held free of charge, the full programme is here. The Czech Center New York is a co-organiser of the event. The showcase is accompanied by online screenings of Czech documentary films awarded at Ji.hlava IDFF’s previous years, free to watch at the territory of the United States via dafilms.com.

“The Ji.hlava Echoes in the USA are special for us also in relation to the Ji.hlava New Visions programme through which we help new U.S. creative documentaries find their co-producers in Europe. From the 1^st April the U.S. authors will be invited to start submitting their documentary projects and present them to key documentary stakeholders in Europe during the 26^th Ji.hlava IDFF in October this year,” adds Hovorka. 

Echoes of 25th Ji.hlava IDFF in New York: March 8 – 10, 2022 

Dates of upcoming Echoes of Ji.hlava in March:

/// France: March 19 – 26 /// Belgium: March 21 – 27 /// Romania: March 22 – 26

For more information please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As an international film festival with a focus on the Southeast Europe region, the Sarajevo Film Festival joins Ukraine to its official programmes: Competition programmes for feature, documentary, short and student films, the In Focus programme, the CineLink Film Industry Days programme for film professionals as well as the Talents Sarajevo programme, which is intended for the new generation of film hopefuls of the region.

The festival also launches a residency programme for filmmakers from Ukraine, who will work on their projects in the development and postproduction stages in Sarajevo in collaboration with leading BiH and international experts from the world of film, after which they will be presented at the CineLink Film Industry Days of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The Ukrainian delegation will be invited to the CineLink Film Industry Days with the aim of enhancing the collaboration with film professionals from Southeast Europe.

In an effort to symbolically mark the beginning of this collaboration, the Sarajevo Film Festival posted on its YouTube channel the film “Reflections“ by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, part of the 2014 omnibus “Bridges of Sarajevo”, which brought together 13 important European directors on the centenary of World War I, who explored the topic of Sarajevo through their films.

In this way, the Sarajevo Film Festival shows its solidarity with the Ukrainian people and filmmakers and condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Launched in 1995 as an expression of cultural resistance to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sarajevo Film Festival knows from its own experience how valuable solidarity and support of this kind are.

Ukraine

01/03:  UNIC stands in solidarity with Ukrainian exhibitors and the Ukrainian people following Russian invasion - UNIC

UNIC, the trade body representing the interests of cinema operators across 39 European territories, has today issued a statement expressing its solidarity not just with Ukrainian exhibitors but also the Ukrainian people as they look to repel the attack on their country by Russian forces.

28/03: Press release: Audiovisual authors’ organisations stand in solidarity with Ukraine - SAA

The Society of Audiovisual Authors and its collective management organisation members stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their creative community following the invasion of the country, and with all forms of opposition to the war.

01/03: Unequivocal Solidarity with Ukraine - European Film Academy

The Academy strongly condemns the war started by Russia – Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory must be respected. Putin’s actions are atrocious and totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them.

04/03: Commission suspends cooperation with Russia on research and innovation – European Commission

Following the Russian invasion against Ukraine and in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, the Commission has decided to suspend the cooperation with Russian entities in research, science and innovation.

06/03: KVIFF 2022: Karlovy Vary Film Festival Refuses Call to Ban All Russian Films – Film New Europe

The organisers of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival have announced that they will not boycott all Russian films at this year’s edition (1-9 July 2022) but will not screen Russian films or accept anyone who is associated with the Russian government or supports military aggression.

07/03: Netflix suspends service in Russia - BroadBand TV 

Netflix has decided to suspend its service in Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

NextGenerationEU

01/03: NextGenerationEU: First annual report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility finds implementation is well underway – European Commission

The European Commission has today adopted its first annual report on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. The RRF is providing up to €723.8 billion (in current prices) of grants and loans to Member States to support transformative investments and reforms that will enable the EU to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital Services Act

03/03: Digital Services Act: MEPs are ready to defend tougher regulations – The Parliament Magazine

The European Parliament and Council must find agreement over points of contention in the DSA. Here is a breakdown of what's at stake and what's next.

Remuneration

01/03: US companies dominating the EU market - less rights for authors? - SAA

During the pandemic lockdowns and quarantines, few paid attention to the consequences of the domination of the streaming and on-demand services by US interests: while the audience gets more content, European authors are being stripped of their right to royalties.

French Presidency of the EU

04/03: Informal meeting of ministers responsible for culture, media and the audiovisual sector – Council of the EU

This informal meeting of ministers responsible for culture, media and the audiovisual sector will address two separate topics. The first is the press and media sector and the second is cultural heritage. What are the challenges faced by these sectors? Can solutions be offered at European level?

Events:

11 March - Presentation of a pan European report on the future of the industry by the European Co-Production Forum, Brussels

15 March - Trilogue on the Digital Services Act

15 March - DG Competition deadline about Amazon MGM Merger

22-24 March - Dialogues of Lille, Series Mania Festival, with Vice President Vestager

28-29 March - UNIC Cinema Days 2022

March/April 2022 - Adoption of Council conclusions on building a European Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries

5-6 April - UKCA Conference

25-28 April - CinemaCon 2022

20-23 June - CineEurope 2022

ICFR Launches Emergency Fund

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk has set up a special "Emergency Fund for Filmmakers" for film practitioners directly in danger due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Coalition and the Fund have been canvassing for funding and donations as soon as war broke out. In the past days, significant financial contributions have been pledged by Germany's key national and regional film funding bodies (100K EUR), by La Scam*, the Netherlands Film Fund, and by many individual donors.

Slovak Film Institute / National Cinematographic Centre would like to announce 11 Slovak film projects that will be presented at Works in Progress session during Bratislava Industry Days at Febiofest IFF on March 21.