The visuals of the Zlín Film Festival were presented by the organizers at the press conference for its 63rd year, February 23, 2023, Zlín.
Zlín – In this year's 63rd year, the Zlín Film Festival for Children and Youth will offer, among other things, a section dedicated to Czechoslovak animation. In the newly created section of the European web series for a young audience, Scandinavian productions will be presented. The artistic director of the festival, Markéta Pášmová, told journalists today. Zlín Film Festival will be held from June 1 to 7, it is the oldest and largest of its kind in the world.
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Photo gallery: Zlín Film Festival 2023
The festival will offer competitive films in the film program in traditional categories, creators can submit their films until March 1. Last year, there were 276 films from 49 countries at the festival. According to Pášmová, there should be a similar number of films this year as well. For example, viewers could see two films produced in the Czech Republic. “One film is still in production. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be done,” said Pášmová. The dramaturgs were also interested in a film produced by Slovakia.
The dramaturgs of the festival recently got acquainted with the current work on the film market in Berlin. “Berlinale is always an important source for us for selecting films, and we are glad that we managed to find interesting titles this year as well. In addition, we have the opportunity to meet a number of film professionals and personalities here, exchange experiences and, of course, also personally invite them to our festival ,” stated Pášmová.
“On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Břetislav Pojar, we are preparing a section dedicated to world-renowned Czechoslovak animation. We will also commemorate the works of Miroslav Štěpánek, Jiří Trnka, Zdeňko Miler, Jiří Brdečka and Vlasta Pospíšilová,” said Pášmová. The festival will focus on animated creations in the film, accompanying and specialist program. The organizers are also preparing special lecturer introductions with examples of different types of animation.
The dramaturgy of the festival also responds to the trend of series for teenagers in the new section of the European web series for young audiences. “This year we will start it with a pilot year focused on Scandinavian production, and each day of the festival we will bring one series with a theme reflecting the current problems of teenagers – identity, immigration, coming out, bullying and others,” said Pášmová.
“Our effort is to show the best of world creation for children and youth and offer an alternative to commonly available audiovisual content. At the same time, through film, we want to educate, expand awareness of the world around us, open up and subsequently discuss current topics,” said festival president Čestmír Vančura.
The author of this year's visual is, as in previous years, the designer Zdeněk Macháček, who also created the festival jingle with Michal Beránek. The author of the musical accompaniment of the jingle is Filip Vojtěch, it was created by remixing the fanfare accompanying the Zlín festival for decades. “The festival will be colorful, playful, multi-layered. It wants to interest and attract the young generation of teenagers even more to the festival events,” said executive director Jarmila Záhorová. There was also a video for teachers accompanied by the actor Jan Čenský.
Part of the festival is an accompanying program including cultural, sports and social events, as well as a half-marathon, which will take place on Sunday, June 4. This year, the organizers want to strengthen the possibility of schools and the public from the region to come to the festival. “In previous years, we made screenings in nearby towns. However, it turned out that the atmosphere cannot be transferred. When visitors come to the cinema during the festival, the experience is completely different,” said Záhorová. In cooperation with the regional coordinator of public transport, two trains for schoolchildren will be dispatched on weekdays, and bus connections from various cities for the public at the weekend.
The festival budget should be around 53 million crowns, similar to last year. “We haven't signed all the contracts yet. The dominant subsidy titles have not been concluded, the decision of the Ministry of Culture is awaited. We will do everything to fulfill the income side,” said Záhorová to ČTK. In previous years, the subsidy from the Ministry of Culture was ten million crowns, last year it was reduced to 8.5 million crowns just before the festival. This year, the organizers expect at least a return to the original level. This year, the city of Zlín increased the contribution by one million crowns to 8.5 million. The Zlín region should give 2.5 million crowns, which is half a million more than last year.
The festival will include a Salon of film shutters, 125 of them will be exhibited
For the 26th year, the Salon of Film Flaps will be a part of the festival. Artists contribute to it with artistically rendered film shutters, which are exhibited in several places in the country. In Zlín there is an auction of clappers during the festival. The collection of clappers is slowly gathering, this year there should be around 125 of them, festival spokesperson Kateřina Martykánová told journalists today. This year, the festival is taking place for the 63rd year, from June 1 to 7.
Kristian Kodet, Iva Hüttnerová, Boris Jirků, Jiří Slíva or Kateřina Miler regularly join the salon with flappers. “This year we have news that we are very happy about, such as a clapperboard from the artist Ms. played by Mr. Břetislav Pojar,” said Martykánová.
This year's salon will begin on March 7 with an opening in the Hybernia Theater in Prague. After that, the clappers will be exhibited in Liberec, Mladá Boleslav, Olomouc and Brno. Before the festival, the flaps will return to Zlín, where the flaps will be auctioned on June 4. Its proceeds will go to budding talented filmmakers through the Filmtalent Zlín Foundation Fund. “Proof that the money is spent meaningfully is the success of supported films not only in the Czech Republic, but also abroad. One example for all, eight films supported by us are in this year's nomination for the Czech Lion,” said the artistic director of the festival, Markéta Pášmová. One of them is the film Ostrov svobody, which was produced by the University of Zlín and won the Czech Film Critics Award for a short film. It was shot by Petr Januschka.
Last year's auction of film shutters brought in a record 3.572 million crowns. All 123 flaps were auctioned. During the entire history of the Salon of Film Clapperboards, 2,872 artistically rendered clapboards were auctioned and they raised a total of 44.561 million crowns. The most successful is still Libor Vojkůvka's flap called Touhy polna, flap open, which an interested party bought in 2008 for 199,000 crowns. The complete collection of clappers is on the website www.salonfilmovychklapek.cz.
