2015: More Slovak Films and Also Viewers

Last year we called 2014 a year of records of film distribution in Slovakia. However, many of these records did not last for even twelve months. Total attendance actually increased year-on-year by over 11 per cent and the share of domestic films in the total attendance was almost 7 per cent in 2015, whereas the share of minority co-productions in the attendance at Slovak films drops year by year. The best-attended domestic film was yet again a documentary: this time Rytmus: A Dream from the Block (Rytmus: Sídliskový sen).

Rytmus: A Dream from the Block made by débuting director Miro Drobný maintained its position in the TOP 10 films in Slovakia until early in December. Only at the end of the year was it demoted to the eleventh place by the latest Bond movie, Spectre, and the latest Star Wars. However, the 81,597 viewers it attracted were enough to make it the ninth best-attended domestic film over the era of independent Slovakia and the second best-attended documentary.

With regard to production, 2015 was the most prolific year in the history of Slovakia with 30 full- length Slovak and co-production films (of these only 8 were minority co-productions). And the number of premières was also a record. Twenty-five Slovak full-length films were released in cinema – 11 feature films (of these only one was
a minority co-production), 11 documentaries and 3 animated films. It is gratifying that Lokalfilmis by Jakub Kroner was also among them. This, the first Slovak full-length animated film since 1980, was even the best-attended domestic film prior to the première of the documentary on Rytmus, and it was eventually second among the domestic films with 47,237 viewers (altogether it was 22nd). The fairy tale Seven Ravens (Sedem zhavranelých bratov) made by Alice Nellis was the best-attended domestic feature film with 45,471 viewers. Home Care (Domácí péče, dir. S. Horák) with 4,315 viewers became the most successful minority co-production in 2015. The films were distributed by 7 distribution companies, of which the Association of Slovak Film Clubs was the most active with 7 domestic premières, and 4 production companies released their films in cinema directly without collaborating with the traditional distributors.

The confidence of audiences in domestic productions is gradually building. The average attendance per screening of a 100 per cent Slovak film or majority co-production did drop from 41.56 viewers in 2014 to 30.26, but all the premièred domestic films were attended by 303,048 viewers, which represents a 6.7 per cent share of the total attendance. Vojtech by Viktor Csudai (41.85 viewers) and Eva Nová by Marko Škop (41.76 viewers) achieved the highest average attendance per performance. The average attendance fee per domestic film was EUR 4.61 which represents an increase of 39 centson2014

Miro Ulman
Rytmus: A Dream from the Block (Rytmus: Sídliskový sen), PHOTO: Itafilm