Visitors can expect not only an attractive film festival, but also a spectacular celebration and a number of extraordinary surprises.

2020: Back to the Future, the announced theme of the 60th Zlín Film Festival, has also inspired the authors of the visual that the organizers of the festival unveiled today at the Congress Center in Zlín. It is again based on a monkey, albeit in a completely new form. Combining digitally modified drawings of a monkey head and a robot head created a new graphic element: the "Robo-monkey". The festival will take place from May 29 to June 6. 

The sixtieth year of the oldest and largest film festival of its kind in the world will be in the spirit of the theme 2020: BACK TO THE FUTURE.

"Back" represents a respectable history of the festival and "the future" promises to fulfill the vision of its modern form developed through science, technology and education,"

said festival president Čestmír Vančura. 

The authors of this year's visual are again the artist Petr Nikl and designer Zdeněk Macháček. It has been based on combining the drawings of a monkey and a robot and thus creating a new whole: a graphically solid digi-icon ROBO-MONKEY.

"We want to prove to the public that a visual created combining the described elements will evoke an atmosphere of eternal desire to "touch the stars" – a message that can speak to every generation,"

says Zdeněk Macháček from Studio 6.15 in Zlín. 

In addition to the traditional COMPETITION and the section entitled FESTIVAL CLASSICS, the dramaturgy of the 60th festival will focus on films in a special anniversary edition called 2020: BACK TO THE FUTURE.

“This section aims to broaden the horizons of young visitors in the area of science and technology. The films will be dramaturgically divided into three groups: documentary films on science and technology , live-acted sci-fi fiction films for children and youth , and a section devoted to special effects in film,”

explains art director Markéta Pášmová. A series of documentary films informs young audiences about key concepts such as space, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, computer games, and information technology.

“In addition to the films themselves, this mini-section will be complemented by lectures for schools and the public, and will try to answer the question of how technology makes our lives easier for us, and vice versa, what dangers do we face from it,”

says Markéta Pášmová. The mini-section of science fiction films should provide young audiences with fun and adventure, as well as learning experiences and opportunities to expand their horizons. The most common theme, encounters with extraterrestrial civilizations, will be supplemented by stories about robots, exploring new worlds and alternative futures. 

In 2020, one of the most important pioneers of cinematic tricks would have been 100 years old: American filmmaker and artist Ray Harryhausen, who created unique puppets for the films Clash of the Titans, Jason and Argonauts, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. This contemporary of Karel Zeman's (who would have turned 110) has inspired the directors Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Tim Burton, and many others.

“We would like to pay tribute not only to him in the Magic of Film Tricks section, but also to other special effects creators who, with the help of the latest technology, have provided incredible film experiences to audiences over the years,”

explains Markéta Pášmová.  

This mini-section consists of films that were revolutionary in terms of special and visual effects. Special screenings of films such as Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jurassic Park, Matrix, and Gravity will be accompanied by an introduction by the experts Kamil Fila and Boris Masník.  

The festival's program department and the special effects artist and film effects supervisor Boris Masník, who is one of the best experts in the Czech Republic and often also participates in projects abroad, have created a section dedicated to film effects. 

“For this year's festival theme - and the sci-fi genre in general - film tricks are one of the basic means of expression. It is a pleasant challenge for me to introduce the festival's visitors to the history film tricks and to what goes on behind the scenes,”

says Boris Masník and adds:

“During my meetings with festival-goers, I would like to point out, among other things, that the film tricks carried out in our films haven't lagged behind in quality in terms of world film productions. And this is evidenced by the fact that Czech special effects specialists and companies are successfully cooperating and successfully building on the tradition established by Karel Zeman and our other special effects artists.” 

A no less important theme of the festival, which will be reflected especially in the supporting program, is the celebration of the festival's 60th year.

“This important year, which rounds the impressive numbering line to the sixties, will not be without wonderful meetings, surprises and events. I believe our visitors will enjoy it,”

says Executive Director Jarmila Záhorová and she gives examples from the upcoming program:

“We will certainly please audiences during the opening of the festival itself in the form of a public opening on the Gahura Prospect; we are preparing a big children's party for the youngest of our visitors.”

There will also be an exhibition of large format crowd photographs from past festivals, a modern virtual gallery mapping the festival's history, a special festival time machine, and another activities. The history of the festival will also be commemorated by an upcoming documentary by Czech Television directed by Tomáš Luňák, a Zlín native. 

A traditional part of the Zlín Film Festival will again be the auction of artistically rendered film clapperboards. The 23rd Clapperboard Salon will start on March 17 in Prague. CLAPPERBOARD TOUR 2020 will again have 5 stops this year – starting in Prague, it will then head out to Mladá Boleslav, Olomouc, Brno and Zlín, culminating in a traditional auction, which will take place on May 31 at the Congress Center. 

For the fifth time, the film festival in Zlín will finish with the Festival Half-Marathon MONET + Zlín, which is scheduled to start on Saturday, June 6 at 4 pm, again starting at the Zlín Congress Centre.  Preceding this, at 2 pm, will be the popular Festival Family Run; it's a 1400-meter course designed for parents with children and for those who prefer shorter runs. It will start again on the main square at Náměstí Míru. 

The Zlín Film Festival will move to Mikulov from June 12 to 16, where the Mikulov Echoes of the Zlín Film Festival will take place for the fourth time. 

Film submission for 60th Zlín Film Festival

Submission deadline is March 1, 2020.
more...

2020: Back to the Future
as a theme for the anniversary 60th Zlín Film Festival

The section aims to broaden the horizons of young visitors in the area of science and technology. The films will be dramaturgically divided into three groups: documentary films on science and technology, live-action sci-fi films for young audience, and a section devoted to visual film effects.
more...

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Submission deadline
is approaching!

Dear filmmakers, you still have a few days till the submission deadline for 60th Zlín Film Festival that takes place from May 29 to June 2020. It is looking for new feature films for children and youth, short animations, European documentaries and feature debuts and student films.
Please submit your films by March 1, 2020.
more...

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The way we were
Discover & Explore

Thematic section of 59th ZFF was Discover & Explore showing films about nature, travelling and indigenous people. In total 280 films from 51 countries were screened. More than 170 delegations arrived in Zlín to introduce 80 films. Films screenings were attended by 42,000 viewers.
Take a tour of the past edition in this video.
more...

The Zlín Film Festival – International Film Festival for Children and Youth is the oldest and, currently, largest film festival of its kind in the world. The festival’s mission is to present a wide range of high-quality international film productions for children and teenagers and to make them accessible to a young audience. An important aspect of the festival is to develop the young audience’s aesthetic, social, and moral feelings, and to expand their awareness of the outside world. Every year the festival welcomes more than 100,000 visitors, hosts numerous international film delegations presenting their creative work, and attracts children’s film professionals from around the globe. The aim of the program is to contribute to the development of Czech cinema for children and youth. The organizer of the festival is the company FILMFEST, s.r.o.

Thanks to film incentives, nearly 80 films and series were shot in the Czech Republic in 2019. Implementation of projects brought revenues of almost CZK 9 billion (USD 393 million / EUR 363 million) to the Czech economy. A large portion of this comprises series filmed for online platforms such as Netflix or Amazon.

"We have calculated the revenue from projects filmed in the Czech Republic last year at CZK 8.9 billion. Foreign productions alone almost doubled compared with 2018, and are at their absolute peak since we began following this indicator. For the state it is most advantageous to provide as many film incentives as possible because higher incentives generate higher returns for the Czech economy," said Helena Bezděk Fraňková, director of the Czech Film Fund.

Among the most significant projects filmed in 2019 in the Czech Republic were major television series such as the second season of Carnival Row for Amazon and the epic fantasy The Wheel of Time for Amazon and Sony. Filming of both series will continue this year. The family film A Boy Called Christmas, the fantasy series The Letter for the King, and the sci-fi drama Tribes of Europa were all filmed in the Czech Republic for Netflix. Other productions included the mystery thriller Shadowplay, the second season of the wartime drama Das Boot, as well as the second season of Miracle Workers starring Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe. 

Over the past two years, the pressure to produce audiovisual content has increased worldwide. Individual countries have begun responding flexibly, introducing film incentives in places where they previously didn’t work, and increasing the percentages. Head of the Czech Film Commission Pavlina Žipková confirms this increase in foreign productions, particularly television series: "In 2018, series made up about 65% of the total; in 2019 that increased to nearly 80%. More and more often, entire series are filmed here, not just several or even individual episodes, as was the case in the past. The primary attraction for foreign producers is and will be film incentives – there's no question. But the wide variety of Czech locations, the architectural diversity, and more also play a huge role, not to mention our highly-skilled Czech craftsmen. Our film professionals are some of the best in the world – Czechs excel not only in directorial positions but also in individual production departments." 

In 2019, the Czech Film Fund paid a total of CZK 1.2 billion (USD 52.4 million / EUR 48.3 million) in incentives to 71 projects. This total includes projects that were filmed in the Czech Republic in previous years, such as the first season of Carnival Row with Hollywood megastar Orlando Bloom (filmed for Amazon in 2017-2019). This project is also the current record holder, incurring almost CZK 1.7 billion (USD 74.2 million / EUR 68.5 million) of eligible costs. The Czech Film Fund refunded an amount of CZK 296 million (USD 13 million / EUR 12 million) to the project. Film productions spend much more in the Czech Republic than only eligible costs, such as expenses that are not eligible under the incentive system, as well as private expenses incurred by actors and crew members. 

In 2019, the Czech Film Fund received 117 applications for registration of new projects that would be filmed here. These included not just turnkey production for international projects, but also co-production projects. In comparison, in 2018, 112 applications were received and 76 in 2017.

International productions spent over 1400 shooting days in the Czech Republic last year making it over 400 more than in 2018. Interest in filming in the Czech Republic continues to rise.

In addition to the short film entitled Dcera (Daughter), two more films developed in the Czech Republic within the dok.incubator workshop also scored points at the prestigious Sundance American film festival awards ceremony on Saturday. The Ukrainian filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk won the Documentary Directing Award for her debut documentary The Earth is Blue as an Orange depicting a family facing life traumas in the middle of a war zone. The camera prize went to Mircea Topoleanu and Radu Ciorniciuc for the peculiar Romanian documentary Acasa, My Home. Radu Ciorniciuc, director, screenwriter and director of photography, presents a dramatic story of a family forced to leave the Bucharest Delta wilderness and to adapt to the life in the city. Both are debut films by young filmmakers. They succeeded in getting to Sundance film festival also thanks to the remarkably high-quality film production and creative editing which they worked on for six months under the professional guidance of twenty leading European lecturers within the Czech dok.incubator workshop.

The prestigious Prague workshop which has been helping to develop ambitious documentary projects from all over the world for nine years, has achieved great success this year. And it was not only the success of the three films at the Sundance competition. Two other films that went through the dok.incubator were shown at Berlinale last year (Lapü and Searching Eva), one film was nominated at the European Film Awards (The Disappearance of My Mother), and another film won the Emmy Award (Worker’s Cup). The dok.incubator films are frequently acquired by the major world players and can be viewed on Netflix, HBO or as a part of POV television series. 

The dok.incubator is a unique workshop intended for documentary filmmakers with international ambitions that does not operate exclusively within the European context. It helps with creative editing, but it also focuses on marketing and distribution planning, ensuring the documentaries stand the best chance of succeeding in the international competition. “Dok.incubator has proven to be an invaluable source of fresh talent and surprising, unconventional approaches to storytelling. Based on our experience, I can say that this is a workshop that is very intense on the one hand but, on the other, has the capacity for finding a very personal approach of lecturers and mentors to each film. And it is this very approach of lecturers and mentors that helps to create the most interesting film stories,” says Sundance festival selector Harry Vaughn who regularly visits the workshop to select films for the competition section. The Earth is Blue as an Orange, the Sundance winning film, will have its Czech premiere in Prague as a part of the One World film festival (5th – 14th March 2020), with the award-winning film director Iryna Tsilyk expected to be present.

Detailed information about the dok.incubator: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Web

Established in 2010 in collaboration with the DOK Leipzig festival, dok.incubator is a think-tank of experienced providers of professional education intended to help medium-sized and small production companies from different countries to face the crisis of the audiovisual industry. The first year took place in 2012 and a great success followed immediately. The film entitled The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear won the main prize for directing at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. Another success came the following year and the good reputation of the workshop made it possible to recruit the most well-known editors from Europe and other countries, invite respected sales agents as well as producers and selectors of the leading international festivals. These experts count among active players of the world cinematography and participate in creation of numerous international films. Both their practical experience and their know-how contributed significantly to the development of the practical format of the workshop.  

The workshop also collaborates with Czech filmmakers and participated in a whole range of important Czech documentaries and has helped a number of Czech film directors with introducing their debut documentaries to the leading European film festivals. These documentaries included, for instance, the following: 

Planeta Česko (Wilder Than Wilderness), Švéd v žigulíku (The Russian Job), Budovatelé říše (The Empire Builders) and Central Bus Station. “As early as the first year, we offered the Czech film professionals intensive editing and dramaturgic consultations that often spontaneously led to a longer-term collaboration based on the enthusiasm of the lecturers. The success of the student film entitled Nebezpečný svět Rajka Dolečka (The Dangerous World of Doctor Doleček) which came to us in its creative crisis and was taken care of by the French editor Yael Bitton or the Stále spolu (Always Together) documentary made by the journalist Eva Tomanová, has shown us to what extent the long-term creative and production support as well as the fresh outside view can affect the quality and distribution of Czech films,” explains the workshop director Andrea Prenghyová.    

 

The doc.incubator project is supported by Creative Europe - MEDIA Program, State Cinematography Fund, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Audiovisual Fund, EEA and Norway Funds, International Visegrad Fund, APA - Audiovisual Producers Association, AVEK - Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the Czech Centre.

European Shooting Star Ella Rumpf from Switzerland plays one of the lead roles in the series FREUD by Marvin Kren

EFP (European Film Promotion) congratulates 22 participants of EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS and 38 former PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE who will be celebrating the premieres of their films during this year's Berlin International Film Festival. The 2020 Dutch Shooting Star Bilal Wahib joins Jonas Smulders (participant in 2018) in the drama Paradise Drifters, while the current Swiss Shooting Star Ella Rumpf is playing one of the leads in Freud which will open the Berlinale Series section. The Class of 2019 is also making a splash: three of last year's Shooting Stars are returning to the festival with their latest films: Franz Rogowski, who has two films: Undine in Competition and Black Milk in the Panorama section. The Panorama will also be featuring Elliott Crosset Hove, starring in Wildland, while Milan Maric is appearing in The Father. Coming full circle, Luca Marinelli (participant from Italy in 2013) is a member of this year's International Jury.

Former PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE have also been very busy. Switzerland's Dan Wechsler (participant in 2011) produced or co-produced four films: All the Dead Ones in Competition, A Common Crime and Pari in the Panorama section, while Malmkrog will be presented in the new Encounters programme. His Swiss colleague Joëlle Bertossa (participant in 2013) also co-produced The Salt of Tears - showing in Competition - and the Generation 14plus title Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness, while the Romanian producer Ada Solomon (participant in 2011) is presenting two films in the Forum, The Exit of the Trains and Uppercase Print, which were both directed by her longtime collaborator Radu Jude - to name just a few.

Please find below the full list of films with participation by EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS and PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE. Both programmes are made possible thanks to the support of the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating national film institutes, EFP's member organisations.

In Competition

All the Dead Ones by Caetano Gotardo, Marco Dutra
Brazil, France
associate produced by Dan Wechsler
world premiere

Bad Tales by Fabio and Damiano D'Innocenzo
Italy, Switzerland
featuring Elio Germano
co-produced by Tiziana Soudani (­)
world premiere

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Burhan Qurbani
Germany, The Netherlands
featuring Jella Haase
produced by Jochen Laube, co-produced by Leontine Petit
world premiere

Delete History by Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern
France, Belgium
produced by Sylvie Pialat
world premiere

Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti
Italy
featuring Elio Germano
world premiere

My Little Sister by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
Switzerland
featuring Nina Hoss
world premiere

The Salt of Tears by Philippe Garrel
France, Switzerland
co-produced by Joëlle Bertossa
world premiere

Siberia by Abel Ferrara
Italy, Germany, Mexico
produced by Marta Donzelli
world premiere

Undine by Christian Petzold
Germany, France
featuring Franz Rogowski
world premiere

Panorama

A l'abordage by Guillaume Brac
France
produced by Grégoire Debailly
world premiere

Black Milk by Uisenma Borchu
Germany, Mongolia
featuring Franz Rogowski
world premiere

A Common Crime by Francisco Márquez
Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland
co-produced by Dan Wechsler
world premiere

Digger by Georgis Grigorakis
Greece, France
produced by Maria Hatzakou
world premiere / debut film

Exil by Visar Morina
Germany, Belgium, Kosovo
produced by Janine Jackowski

Father by Srdan Golubovic
Serbia, France, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
featuring Milan Maric, Nikola Rakocevic
produced by Jelena Mitrovic, Adis Djapo
world premiere

Hope by Maria S¢dahl
Norway, Sweden
exec. produced by Yngve Sæther, co-produced by Lizette Jonjic

Mare by Andrea Staka
Switzerland, Croatia
featuring Marija Skaricic, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz
world premiere

Mogul Mowgli by Bassam Tariq
United Kingdom
featuring Riz Ahmed
produced by Riz Ahmed
world premiere

Pari by Siamak Etemadi
Greece, France, The Netherlands, Bulgaria
produced by Giorgos Karnavas, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, co-produced by Borislav Chouchkov, Dan Wechsler
world premiere / debut film

Wildland by Jeanette Nordahl
Denmark
featuring Elliott Crosset Hove, Joachim Fjelstrup
produced by Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, associate produced by Mimmi Spang, Maria Ekerhovd
world premiere / debut film

Generation Kplus

Monty and the Street Party by Anders Morgenthaler and Mikael Wulff
Denmark
featuring Iben Hjejle (voice)
co-produced by Lizette Jonjic
International Premiere / Animation

Schoolgirls by Pilar Palomero
Spain
featuring Natalia de Molina
world premiere / debut film

Generation 14plus

Cocoon by Leonie Krippendorff
Germany
featuring Jella Haase
world premiere

Jumbo by Zoé Wittock
France, Belgium, Luxembourg
co-produced by Gilles Chanial
debut film

Paradise Drifters by Mees Peijnenburg
The Netherlands
featuring Jonas Smulders, Bilal Wahib
Internationale premiere / debut film

Pompei by Anna Falguères, John Shank
Belgium, France, Canada
produced by Joseph Roushop, Kim McCraw (Producers Lab Toronto)

Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness by Massoud Bakhshi
France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lebanon, Iran
co-produced by Nicole Gerhards, Joëlle Bertossa, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu

Programme "On Transmission":

The Architect by Ina Weisse
Germany 2008
featuring Maria Hofstätter

On Body and Soul by Ildikó Enyedi
Hungary 2017
featuring Réka Tenki
produced by András Muhi

Programme Encounters

Malmkrog by Cristi Puiu
Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden, Bosnia, North Macedonia
produced by Anca Puiu, co-produced by Milan Stojanovic, Dan Wechsler, Labina Mitevska
world premiere

Servants von Ivan Ostrochovsk¤
Slovak Republic, Romania, Czech Republic, Ireland
co-produced by Oana Giurgiu, Pavel Strnad, Marek Urban
world premiere

Forum

The Exit of the Trains by Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflânca
Romania
produced by Ada Solomon
world premiere / documentary

Uppercase Print by Radu Jude
Romania
produced by Ada Solomon
International premiere

Window Boy Would Also Like to Have A Submarine by Alex Piperno
Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, The Netherlands, Philippines
co-produced by Frank Hoeve
world premiere

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

Opening film

Kids Run von Barbara Ott
Germany
featuring Jannis Niewöhner
world premiere / debut film

Sleep by Michael Venus
Germany
featuring Agata Buzek, Max Hubacher
produced by Verena Gräfe-Höft
world premiere

Berlinale Special

Charlatan by Agnieszka Holland
Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Slovak Republic
co-produced by Klaudia Smieja
world premiere / gala

Curveball by Johannes Naber
Germany
produced by Amir Hamz
world premiere / gala

Numbers by Oleg Sentsov
Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, France
co-produced by Helena Uldrichova
world premiere

Berlinale Series

Freud by Marvin Kren
Austria, Germany, Czech Republic
featuring Ella Rumpf, Georg Friedrich
Broadcaster: ORF, Netflix
world premiere

Sex by Amalie Næsby Fick
Denmark
executive produced by Ditte Milsted
Broadcaster: TV 2 Denmark
Internationale Premiere

Trigonometry by Athina Rachel Tsangari (Ep. 1-5), Stella Corradi (Ep. 6-8)
United Kingdom
featuring Lucy Russell
Broadcaster: BBC2, HBO Max (USA)
world premiere

EFP is supported by

EFP is supported by

EFP (European Film Promotion) is an international network of film promotion institutes from 37 countries from throughout Europe, each representing their national films and talent abroad. Under the EFP flag, these organisations team up to jointly promote the diversity and spirit of European cinema and talent at key film festivals and markets, in particular outside of Europe.

EFP is financially supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and by its member organisations. The Hamburg-based office is backed by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the Ministry of Culture of the City of Hamburg.

Having worked on the initial idea, the world, the characters, and the outlines of their stories, Kids Kino.Lab participants will now focus on writing extended treatment and taking first steps to prepare the production package for their projects. Not only will they start fully developing their stories, but they will also learn more about financing the production, negotiating the contracts, and targeting the right audience.

The schedule of the second session includes: individual and group sessions with the tutors for both writers and producers, presentation by Greek Film Center and EKOME on co-production possibilities and the new cash rebate system in Greece, as well as Creative Europe Media Desk showcase of funding opportunities in Europe, and…a role-play for producers imitating the conversation with the executives and head studios.

Additionally, for an extra dose of inspiration, the second session of Kids Kino.Lab will include sightseeing activities in Athens; presentation from a guest speaker Fulko Kuindersma; and screenings of the participants’ past work – showing their films as a case study which will provide an opportunity for further discussions. Fulko Kuindersma, Acquisitions Executive of Dutch Features, will give a presentation focused on selling content for children. As a member of Holland’s leading sales agency, specialized in world sales and distribution, he will share his experiences with the participants and answer their questions concerning their own projects.

Crafting films for younger audience is a challenge! That is why we’re shifting into second gear and taking off – focusing equally on both: writing and the work that will let the writing come alive.

CO-FUNDED BY:

OUR PARTNERS:

OUR GREEK PARTNERS:

CONTACT:

Zosia Horszczaruk - industry project coordinator - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Wojtek Jankowski - production assistant - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Climate change and its impacts on the local landscape – that is the subject that we have decided to focus on at this year’s One World film festival under the motto of “Not till a hot January.” The festival has looked at environmental issues since nearly the very beginning, and over the past three years films on this subject have had their own category, UnEarthed. This year, it is our main thematic category. In addition, all virtual reality documentaries will be on the subject of nature and the environment, supplemented by a special nature installation. “By combining creative documentaries, accompanying events, and VR projects, we hope to provide a broad overview of the climate crisis – compared to other festivals that also address this subject, the diverse range of perspectives is truly unique. For instance, you can attend a workshop on fermenting seasonal vegetables, see a film on environmental racism (a subject almost nobody talks about in our country), explore nature in a dead forest at DOX, or immerse yourself in an emotional VR environment,” says the festival’s programming director Ondřej Moravec. The 22nd edition of the One World festival takes place from 5 to 14 March in Prague, after which it will travel to 35 other cities throughout the Czech Republic.

The festival opens with the Oscar-nominated Honeyland. This internationally recognized documentary about traditional beekeeper Hatidze Muratova looks not only at a disappearing trade in the breathtaking mountain regions of North Macedonia, but is also a powerful parable about the state of our civilization. Hatidze lives a quiet life with her sick mother in an old mountain village, but her peace is upset by the arrival of a nomadic family that sees beekeeping as a quick way to make money. The poetic and understand yet multilayered film shows what it means to fully internalize the natural order and live in harmony with it. The film is being distributed in the Czech Republic by Artcam Films.

Besides the main category, UnEarthed, the festival consists of its three annual competition categories (Czech Competition, International Competition, and Right to Know), plus another thirteen thematic sections. The International Competition presents foreign documentaries made with an original approach that will be vying for Best Film and Best Director. Being shown in world premiere is Agnieszka Zwiefka’s Scars about the controversial life path of a former female fighter for the Tamil Tigers. The festival is also hosting the international premiere of Ninosca, a portrait of a woman from Nicaragua, whom director Peter Torbiörnsson (Best Director award at One World in 2002) followed for 40 years, from her early childhood in a village all the way to her emigration to Spain for work so that she could feed her family. These films will be competing with three documentaries that won awards at the Sundance film festival. The Painter and the Thief looks at the strange relationship between two seemingly very different people: Czech artist Barbora Kysilková and one of the thieves who stole two of her paintings from a Norwegian gallery in 2015. In Acasa, My Home, director Radu Ciorniciuc explores the life of a family living in the Bucharest Delta on the city’s outskirts who are forced by gentrification to move to the city. Family is also the central theme of Iryna Tsilyk’s The Earth Is Blue As an Orange, a portrait of single mother Anna and her four children living in a warzone in Ukraine. 

In the Right to Know category, the Václav Havel Jury will be judging films that contribute, in a unique manner, to protecting human rights or that present powerful stories of people engaged in fighting for human rights. One of this year’s contenders is Advocate, which shows Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel’s endless struggle for legal justice. Tsemel, who has spent her entire career fighting for the rights of Palestinians, will be on hand in person. Former Vietnamese pop star (and today dissident) Mai Khoi, who sat on the Václav Havel Jury in 2017, will present her documentary Mai Khoi & The Dissidents, which follows her transformation from prominent singer into an enemy of the communist regime who calls attention to the lack of freedom in her country. The crew of the Sea-Watch 3, headed by Captain Carola Rackete, has saved more than three dozen refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. The film Sea-Watch 3 shows how.

A total of eleven films, including five world premieres, will be vying for the title of best documentary in the Czech Competition. In The Czechs Are Excellent Mushroom Pickers, Apolena Rychlíková looks at climate change in the Czech Republic from the viewpoint of an extraterrestrial probe. Director Andrea Culková explores the emotions evoked by climate change in women in her documentary Grief. Linda Kallistová Jablonská’s Doggy Love, meanwhile, offers a portrait of the musher Jana, who sets out with her team for the longest sled dog race in Europe, the Finnmarksløpet. The capital of Mongolia is currently home to one and a half million people – half the entire country’s population. When fifty-year-old Tumurbaator arrives in the city, will his dream of a better life come true? Find out in Anji Sauvé Clubb’s Nomad Meets the City. And director Dmitry Bogolyubov looks at how Putin’s followers use the legacy of the Great Patriotic War to gain support from the Russian people in Town of Glory.

The category Masculinity and Femininity shows different perspectives on male and female gender roles, include men’s and women’s roles in society, at work, and in the family. Finland has recently been in the news as a country of emancipated women. Award-winning director Joonas Berghäll balances this image with his portrait of overworked, broken, hard-drinking, and frustrated Finnish men in his film The Happiest Man On Earth. By comparison, women in Nigeria are barely visible in public life. In Chris van der Vorm’s Mrs F., an activist known by that pseudonym holds workshops and organizes public events where women try to gain the respect they need in their communities. Jola, the main protagonist of Lessons of Love, has spent all her life doing what was expected of her. Now, at age 69, she leaves the past behind, begins to live anew, and finally earns the respect – above all self-respect – she deserves.

No system – political, social, legal – is perfect, as the documentaries in the category Gaps in the System remind us. For instance, in his film Push, director Fredrik Gretten looks at the housing crisis and gentrification and tries to figure out why attractive cities are being turned into stage sets where ordinary people can no longer live. In Lovemobil, Elke Lehrenkrauss explores the lives hidden behind the heart-shaped neon lights on campervans parked on the side of the road, where women entice passers-by into their special private sphere to sell them their bodies. And in the poetic In My Blood It Runs, Maya Newell follows a stubborn and determined boy who is trying to find his place and identity somewhere between his aboriginal Australian culture and majority society.

Another new category this year is Diagnosis, in which the festival is presenting films on health and healthcare. One of the world’s best care facilities for people with Alzheimer’s is in the Thai city of Chiang Mai. Mother looks at the life of the caregiver Pomm and at Maya, a sick woman from Switzerland whose family places her in the facility. Midnight Family looks at the desperate shortage of government ambulances in Mexico City and at the private ambulance services that transport patients in need. In 2015, a fire at a Bucharest nightclub claimed the lives of 64 people. More than half of them died in hospitals, and the investigative documentary Collective, which is also part of the festival’s International Competition, explores the reasons for their deaths and looks at the mistakes made at the hospitals.

A new regional category this year is China: Powerful and Powerless. One film in this category is China’s Artful Dissident, about a dissident living exile who uses his art to fight against the totalitarian state. The title character of another film, Ximei, is also fighting the system – and an incurable illness. In the 1990s, when China began a campaign of paying people for donations of blood and plasma, many poor peasants were attracted by the easy money. However, poor hygienic conditions caused around 300,000 people to become infected with HIV, and today they are ostracized by society. Besides films that look at conditions inside China, the section also includes documentaries that explore how the country operates outside its borders. What are the pitfalls associated with a New Silk Road construction project near a remote Georgian village? Find out in A Tunnel.

In our traditional category Journeys to Freedom, we present films that look at the situation in countries with undemocratic regimes. This year, the category includes several films made by local filmmakers, including Filipino director Alyx Ayn Arumpac, whose Aswang paints a horrifying picture of the war on drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte has declared on his people. In Khartoum Offside, Sudanese director Marwa Zein follows a group of young woman in Khartoum who practice football in secret and without any professional equipment. Their skills and enthusiasm are comparable to that of men, but the Sudanese government rejects all proposals for a women’s team. War of Art explores how foreign artists look at undemocratic countries: Norwegian director Tommy Gulliksen takes a group of artists from “the West” on a cultural exchange to North Korea – but the first step towards mutual understanding is difficult, and the film shows how different people from different environments can be. 

Another of our traditional – and popular – categories is One Zero, which looks at the challenges and dangers of modern technology. For instance, Hi, AI explores advances in domestic humanoid robots that are ever better at meeting our need to ascribe human traits to advanced machines. The longitudinal documentary Sing Me A Song paints a portrait of a young monk in a remote monastery in the mountains of Bhutan and shows what happens when the monks get smartphones and computer games. The film asks us to consider one of the less frequently discussed risks of the digital revolution. Meanwhile, Barbora Chalupová and Vít Klusák’s highly anticipated and radically experimental film Caught in the Net explores the taboo subject of online child abuse.

They stand out from the crowd and approach everyday life differently than most people – these are the protagonists of the films in the category Long Live Life! In Talking About Trees, for instance, four film buffs try to bring the glamour of the silver screen to Sudan by founding a film club. This Train I Ride paints a portrait of several women who share the (in)dependence of the freedom provided by freight trains as they travel across America. In When Tomatoes Met Wagner, cousins Aleco and Christos from a small village in Greece try to improve their tomato harvest by playing classical music as they think about how to bring life back to a farming region where only a handful of old-timers remains.

Another traditional category, Panorama, presents internationally recognized and award-winning documentary films that have enjoyed success at foreign festivals. One example is Photographer of War – an intimate portrait of photographer and World Press Photo laureate Jan Grarup, who has spent 25 years photographing war but who must now face personal struggles. The Feminister, meanwhile, takes a behind-the-scenes look at politics through the eyes of Sweden’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström, who committed herself to promoting a feminist foreign policy during her time in office. And thanks to The Letter, audiences hear about the lynching of dozens of men and women in Kenya who have been accused of sorcery – often by their own relatives.

Retrospective: Nanfu Wang

American-based Chinese director Nanfu Want first caught the world’s attention with her 2016 debut film Hooligan Sparrow about human rights activist Ye Haiyan. The film has been shown at festivals in more than 25 countries, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Feature. Besides showing this first film, the retrospective also presents her documentary I Am Another You and her most recent work, One Child Nation, which won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary film at the Sundance film festival. 

Oscar nominees at One World

This year’s One World festival is also showing several films that were nominated for the Academy Awards. Besides the festival’s opening film Honeyland, these include The Cave, the second Oscar-nominated film by member of the International Jury Feras Fayyad. The film tells the story of Syrian doctor Amani Ballour, who runs an underground hospital in the eastern town of Ghouta. Another entrant from Syria is For Sama, which tells the dramatic tale of journalist and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab as she reports on the unending conflict as a witness for her newborn daughter Sama. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Award. The film is being distributed in the Czech Republic by Artcam Films.

Talking Cinema

Talking Cinema presents a series of discussions with foreign experts and other individuals on selected topics from this year’s festival: the protests in Hong Kong, the worsening housing crisis, the impacts of the climate crisis, and the changing role of men in the world today.

Guests who have accepted our invitation to attend this year’s festival include Sweden’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström; political activist, member of the Demosisto movement in Hong Kong, and member of this year’s Václav Havel Jury Amon Yiu Yeuk-wa; and Leilani Farha, special UN rapporteur on housing rights. Coming to speak on climate change is leading climatologist and expert on oceans and extreme climate phenomena Stefan Rahmstorf. Meanwhile, therapist Dan Doty, who has a wide range of experiences with helping men and adolescent boys deal with psychological issues and whose Evryman project organizes support groups and wilderness retreats, will speak about the role of men in the 21st century.

All discussions will take place at Kino 35 and will be interpreted into Czech and English. Three discussions will also be translated into Czech sign language.

East Doc Platform: Sundance winning producers and new docs on the horizon

For the 9th time, the East Doc Platform will be an essential part of One World IHRDFF. Running between March 7–13, its programme includes the traditional closely watched presentation Czech Docs… Coming Soon, revealing five upcoming Czech and co-production documentaries, while the East Doc Forum will bring together the most promising projects from Central and Eastern Europe with a chance to get number of awards.

The programme includes a masterclass by Swedish filmmaker and journalist Fredrik Gertten (PUSH), Austrian editor Niki Mossböck (Earth, Grbavica) will discuss how to begin a film on examples of her work, while German producer Erik Winker will talk about the co-production aspects of the upcoming documentary Trees Floating by Salomé Jashi. One of the highlights of East Doc Platform will be the moderated panel discussion Filmmaking Against Dictatorships: How to Shoot and Keep Your Freedom, which will bring filmmakers to share their experience and talk about the obstacles the critical filmmaking is facing recently. 

Film professionals who want to attend the whole East Doc Platform industry programme can buy Industry Pass until February 21. The open programme is available for free, without any accreditation.

Dangling ticket

For some people, a ticket to the movies can take a bite out of their pocketbook. For them, One World has come up with “dangling tickets” so that everyone can make it to the cinema – even people who, for whatever reason, can’t afford a ticket. Like last year, the information stand in the Lucerna building will offer the option of buying an extra ticket and leaving it dangling from a special ticket hanger. This option will also be available at the second information stand in the Municipal Library on Mariánské náměstí.

New this year, anyone purchasing tickets online may purchase extra tickets and bring them to the People in Need café in the Langhans Building. The festival’s organizers will then distribute the tickets on the spot or hang them up at the information stands during the festival.

One World in numbers

• This year’s festival presents 133 documentaries from 60 countries in 16 categories
• We are showing 27 exclusive premieres (21 world and international premieres, 6 European premieres) 
• The festival takes place in 37 cities (5–14 March in Prague, then throughout the Czech Republic and in Brussels) 
• We have more than 130 confirmed festival guests 
• As part of One World for All, all films will be screened with Czech subtitles – this includes films in Czech. The entire program is thus accessible for people with hearing impairments. In addition, the festival is showing 4 films with audio commentary for people with visual impairments, plus 3 relaxed screenings for viewers with mental impairments, autism, or epilepsy.

• 132,227 visitors saw films at the 2019 festival

Practical information

• Ticket sales in Prague start on Wednesday 19 February. Ticket prices are CZK 70 in the first wave and CZK 90 in the second. During the festival, tickets cost CZK 110.
• Holders of a handicapped ID and viewers over age 65 receive a 50% discount on all screenings. 

• For people with a handicapped ID, their attendants receive free admission.  
• In order to ensure reservations for holders of a handicapped ID and for further information (accessibility, seniors, Czech sign language interpretations, audio commentary), please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +420 221 462 411.
• As in the past, this year we again offer central assisted ticket sales at an information stand in the Lucerna building, where filmgoers will find two computers where they can purchase tickets online for any screening at any cinema, with volunteers available to help if necessary. The tickets are either printed out or sent via email.
• The press center, where we will be issuing press accreditation during the festival, can be found at the People in Need Center in the Langhans Building (Vodičkova 37, Prague), which is open from 5 to 14 March from 10am to 8pm.  
• The festival’s audience center will be at the Tibet Open House on Školská Street in Prague 1. Here, visitors can purchase festival merchandise, relax with their children over a cup of coffee, or attend various accompanying events.  

• During the festival, parents may make use of a children’s play corner at the Municipal Library on Mariánské náměstí.  

The festival program can be found at https://www.oneworld.cz/2020/programme

The One World 2020 video spot can be found at https://youtu.be/PB3eRaUfieg

More information, including this year's visual, can be downloaded at https://www.oneworld.cz/2020/press

A list of guests is attached. Photographs and access to films are provided upon request.  

Please contact our media coordinator to arrange interviews with festival guests. 

Contact:  
Nikola Páleníčková, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+420 732 989 638 

The festival’s spokesperson is Gabriela Gálová.  
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+420 605 919 769 

Organizer:  
People in Need

Co-organizer: 
Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic

With support from:  
Czech Film Fund
City of Prague 
Creative Europe – Media Programme
Avast Endowment Fund
Zátiší group

General media partner:
Czech Television

Main media partner:
Czech Radio

Thank you: 
Tibet Open House