17-12-2008

Break-out director of 2008 – Juraj Lehotsky

By Jana Kadlecova

    Young Slovak director Juraj Lehotsky (age 33) drew international attention with his 77-minute debut Blind Loves, a documentary with fictional elements about love among the blind, whcih premiered on March 26 in Slovakia.

    Juraj Lehotsky was already recognized in Slovakia for his short documentaries and music videos, but Blind Loves, produced by Artileria (www.artileria.sk) became a huge success.

    Lehotsky's film was selected for the Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Directors Fortnight) at Cannes where he won the CICAE prize. The award was presented by the International Confederation of Art Cinemas, an international jury composed of independent movie theater operators.

    Blind Loves drew long standing ovations in Cannes and the international media praised the film. "Engrossing, beautifully crafted docu Blind Loves features four non-sighted subjects repping a range of age and experience. (...) Some charming moments play like Georges Melies crossed with Jan Svankmajer. Touching yet totally unsentimental pic has already scored domestic distribution. A quality find for specialist webs and niche arthouse, it will screen at additional prestige fests in coming months," wrote Variety.

    "Touching and original (...). The film's quirky aesthetic and refusal to fill in conventional backstories for its four subjects will limit the audience, but this charming and thought-provoking curio could easily prove to be a hit on the indie circuit (in fact, sales at Cannes are already brisk)," Screen Daily wrote, and The Hollywood Reporter used similar superlatives.

    Blind Loves went on to capture the nominated to represent the Slovak Republic in the Oscar category for the Best Foreign Language Film

    Juraj Lehotsky studied photography at the College of Art in Bratislava and studied documentary directing at the VSMU (Academy of Performing Art) , winning prizes with his short films.

    Blind Loves' many film festival awards include the Golden Eye at Zurich, the Fipresci prize at Motovun, a Special mention at Reykjavik, and several prizes at Slovak film festivals.