Jan Hřebejk’s film The Holy Quaternity, began its festival career in the Contemporary World Cinema selection at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Thanks to Czech Film Center membership in European Film Promotion (EFP), the film’s producer received EFP Film Sales Support, a subsidy that helps European films participate at non-European festivals. EFP granted EUR 12,150 to Czech films in 2012.
17th Busan International Film Festival, South Korea (October 4-13, 2012)
The biggest film festival in Asia takes place October 4-13, 2012 and presents more than 300 films from over 70 countries in various competition and non-competition sections. Flower Buds will screen in Flash Forward, a competition selection dedicated first and second films from non-Asian directors.
39th Flanders International Film Festival Ghent, Belgium (October 9-20, 2012)
The Flanders International Film Festival Ghent was established in 1974 as a student film festival but has since become one of the most significant European film festivals. Each year in October, more than 100 features and 30 short films from all over the world are presented at the festival. The festival is accompanied by many various film programmes and attracts more than 130,000 viewers each year. It also focuses on film music, organising special concerts that have helped make it a unique film event. David Ondříček’s film In The Shadows will have its international premiere here.
48th Chicago International Film Festival, USA (October 11-25, 2012)
Flower Buds will screen among 150 films from all over the world at one of the most important festivals in North America. Recently introduced to Czech audiences, The Clip will screen in the New Directors Competition of first and the second films. Czech-Polish co-production YUMA, by director Piotr Mularuk, will screen in the World Cinema section.
28th Warsaw International Film Festival, Poland (October 12-21, 2012)
There will be a strong Czech presence in Warsaw. Slovak-Czech co-production The Confidant, directed by Juraj Nvoty and starring Jiří Mádl, will screen in the international competition. Flower Buds is among the contenders in the international competition of first and the second films. The Biggest Wish, by director Olga Špátová, is among 18 films in the festival’s documentary competition. Warsaw will also present A Night Too Young, by Olmo Omerzu, in the Discoveries section and Don’t Stop, by Richard Řeřicha, in a special screening. The Holy Quaternity will close the festival.
Cockatoo Island Film Festival, Sydney, Australia (October 24-28, 2012)
Czech cinematography will have a relatively large presence at a growing film festival on the other side of the globe. The Cockatoo Island Film Festival in Sydney will present more than 250 films, including Bohdan Sláma’s Four Suns in the Dramatic Competition. The festival will also screen six Czech shorts: Non-swimmers (dir. Jakub Šmíd – FAMU), Dessert (dir. Anna Mastníková – VŠUP), Close Friend (dir. Pavel Soukup - VŠUP), Shining Tony (dir. Filip Pošivač – VŠUP) and Mr. Late (Jiří Sadek – FAMO).
42th Molodist International Film Festival, Kiev, Ukraine (October 20-28, 2012)
Flower Buds will screen in the international competition Ukraine’s biggest film festival. Among other competition films is, for example, the Greek feature L. The festival will also present a retrospective of Miloš Forman’s films on the occasion of the director’s 80th birthday: Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde, The Firemen’s Ball and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as well as Miloš Šmídmajer’s documentary, Miloš Forman: What Doesn’t Kill You... .
13th Arras Film Festival, France (November 9-18, 2012)
Don’t Stop will screen in the festivals’ Découvertes Européennes selection.
30th Torino Film Festival, Torino, Italy (November 23-December 1, 2012)
Torino has selected A Night Too Young for this year’s edition.
Other co-production films presented at international film festivals this autumn
Polski film, by Marek Najbrt, is expected to screen at the 5th CinEast Central and Eastern European Film Festival (Luxembourg, October 11-28, 2012) and at the 35th Starz Denver Film Festival (USA, November 2012).
Slovak-Czech co-production Made in Ash, by Iveta Grófová, will screen at the 56th BFI London Film Festival (U.K., October 10-21, 2012).
French-Czech co-production L'homme qui rit (The Man Who Laughs),by director Jean-Pierre Ameris, had its world premiere at the 69th Venice Film Festival (August 29-September 8, 2012).
Ameris shot the film with Okko Production in the Czech Republic over the course of two months in the spring of this year, working at Barrandov Studios and on location in Milovice and Chotěšovin the Pilsen region.
L'homme qui rit received support from the Czech Republic’s Film Industry Support Program (FISP), which offers rebates of up to 20% to international productions for the qualifying local spend. Another film to benefit from FISP support was A Royal Affair, a co-production between Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic and Germany, which received two awards at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February of this year.
