07-11-2011

Festivals Fete Slovak Films

By FNE Staff

    BRATISLAVA: Three early November events are profiling Slovak films. The Bratislava IFF features its annual Slovak focus, while Budapest hosts a Slovak Film Week, and Thessaloniki screens Slovak films in both the festival and at the Agora Film Market.

    The House (Dom, by Zuzana Liová, SK - CZ 2011) and Alois Nebel (by Tomáš Luňák, CZ - SK - DE, 2011) are included in the International Competition of the Thessaloniki IFF. The Slovak national entry for the American Film Academy awards for the Best Foreign Language Film 2012 Gypsy (Cigán, by Martin Šulík, SK - CZ) is presented in the section Open Horizons.

    The Slovak Film Week will present six Slovak films in Budapest and a Film Seminar for students of Slovak. Slovak Film Week opens with is Apricot Island, a debut by Peter Bebjak, who will present the film together with the producer of the film Rasťo Šesták. The week continues with Gypsy by Martin Šulík, Mosquitoes' Tango by Miloslav Luther, Nicky's Family by Matej Mináč, Matchmaking Mayor by Erika Hníková and the archive film Jánošík by Jaroslav Siakeľ, the first Slovak film, which celebrates its 90th anniversary. The Slovak Film Week will take palce in the Örökmozgó Cinema in Budapest. The Film Seminar takes place in Budapest till November 9, then moves to the Hungarian city Szeged. The Slovak Film Week in Budapest is cosponsored by the Slovak Film Institute (www.aic.sk).

    The Bratislava IFF (www.iffbratislava.com) screens the debut of director Peter Krištúfek, Visible World, and the co-prodution title Alois Nebel by Tomáš Luňák in the International Competition of First and Second Feature Films. The Panorama section includes the successful Gypsy by Martin Šulík. The Filmmaker's Tribute section will focus on two significant personas of Slovak cinema: the New Wave director Eduard Grečner and the film journalist Pavel Branko. Finally, 15 full-length and short films will all be included in the Made in Slovakia section.The juries of IFF Bratislava include several Slovak representatives: Slovak actress Zuzana Kanócz is the member of the Feature Films Jury, short films in the festival competition will be judged by Martin Kaňuch, the editor of the film magazine Kino Ikon, and Slovak journalist Miro Ulman is part of the FIPRECSI Jury. The Student Jury consists of: Theodor Kuhn (VŠMU Bratislava), Simona Schurdáková (AU Banská Bystrica) and Lenka Šturmankinová (VŠVU Bratislava).