Short Films, Strong Experiences

The animated film Rosso Papavero, which is the result of several years of work of Martin Smatana, student at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, was chosen for the Generation Kplus competition section at the 65th Berlin IFF. Slovak short films get into common distribution only rarely, they are more frequently presented at film festivals and some take on a successful festival life.

Rosso Papavero is a short story about a boy with a head full of imagination who witnesses a dream circus performance. However, dazed by the attractions, he realises too late that the door between reality and dream is closing behind him. The director, Smatana is fascinated by children’s imagination which considerably affects their view of the world. According to his own words, he tried to play with the idea of a border behind which imagination might sound troublesome.

Last year, four short films screened prior to full-length films managed to get into cinema distribution. Three of them are animated films – Fongopolis (dir. J. Kożuch), Nina (dir. V. Obertová and M. Čopíková) and The Story of a Tornado (Ako vzniká tornádo, dir. V. Kocourková). You can read more about these projects in the section 2014 in Animated Film. Of the three mentioned animated films, mainly Fongopolis took part in foreign festivals and film screenings.

The co-production feature film Tiger Fight (Tanec tigra, dir. M. Repka) was the fourth short film screened last year in Slovak cinemas. The story of a director who does not give a chance to a talented dancer and later realises his mistake, takes place in India, but according to Martin Repka it reflects life in Slovakia. “We live in a world of casting shows, we have juries and people at high positions who judge others, but on the other hand, we have people who suffer as they are talented but they are not able to gain a foothold or earn money with what they are capable of,” said Repka about Tiger Fight.

When speaking about animated films, it is worth mentioning that last year the first Slovak experimental 3D film Kuku (dir. H. Žucha) was premièred at the Fest Anča Festival in Žilina. Thus, after three years of development, a short story about child visions and an inspirational search for secrets hidden under the surface of seemingly ordinary things came in existence.

The educational documentary Monthlies (Mesiačiky) by Diana Fabiánová also includes animation elements. Fabiánová funded her 30-minute film about menstruation also by means of a crowd-funding campaign and she successfully presented it not only in Slovakia and in several European countries, but also in Puerto Rico, Brazil, China, Mexico and Nepal, for instance.  

The Student Film Festival Áčko regularly presents new film talents. Of course, it has short films in its programme and last year Zuzana Marianková won the Grand Prix with her feature project B moll (B moll). Director Adam Felix was also successful with his student feature film Checkpoint which was in the 13th International Film Students Meeting competition at one of the oldest European film festivals, the San Sebastian IFF.

However, last year several well-established filmmakers presented their new films too. As for documentary filmmakers, it was for instance Zuzana Piussi who deals with controversial and avoided themes often exerting investigative efforts. Her new film Transference (Priamy prenos), almost one hour long, deals with child abuse. Pavol Barabáš is another type of documentary filmmaker; he specialises in films about nature, travelling adventures and expeditions under extreme conditions. His last year’s new film is entitled The Polarman (Polárnik) and the almost one-hour long film has already won several awards at festivals.

Zuzana Sotáková