Last Year Slovak Films Had a Busy Festival Life

The year just past was successful for Slovak cinema on several levels. Domestic films not only broke records in attendance figures but they also managed to win recognition at important international festivals (Berlinale, Cannes, Rotterdam). Little Harbour, Out, Nina, The Line and Filthy had an excellent year.

Right at the start of the year, the full-length début of director Tereza Nvotová Filthy (Špina) received its world première at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (25 January – 5 February 2017). This drama treating the theme of victims of sexual violence and the psychiatric treatment of juveniles, which is taboo in Slovak society, was screened in the Bright Future Section for new talents with a personal vision or an individual style.

The prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (9 – 19 February 2017) was also successful for Slovak cinema. The drama Little Harbour (Piata loď) by director Iveta Grófová, inspired by Monika Kompaníková’s eponymous book, was presented in its world première in the Generation Kplus Section at the 67th Berlinale. The visually attractive story of two children who decide to create their own world and family rules resonated with the Children’s Jury and won the Crystal Bear. “We chose a creative and authentic film… The story touched us very much and we truly believed the actors,” stated the Jury’s position. The Silver Bear – the Alfred Bauer Prize last year went to Spoor (Cez kosti mŕtvych/Pokot) which was made in a Slovak minority co-production by director Agnieszka Holland (in collaboration with Kasia Adamik).

A Slovak film was presented in the Un Certain Regard competition for the first time in history at the 70th prestigious Cannes Film Festival (17 – 28 May 2017). György Kristóf’s full-length début Out also vied for the Golden Camera Award. Kristóf’s road movie follows the fifty-something family man Ágoston who, after losing his job, embarks on a journey from Slovakia across Eastern Europe in an attempt to find a job and make his dream – to catch a big fish – come true. The Slovak film Atlantis, 2003 (Atlantída, 2003) by Michal Blaško, a student of directing at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, competed for the jury’s favour among 16 films in the Cinéfondation student film competition in Cannes. The film raises the question of morals in the story of a young Ukrainian couple who try to get to Germany illegally

The Czech-Slovak film Ice Mother (Baba z ľadu, dir. B. Sláma) with Slovak actress Zuzana Kronerová in the leading role was successful on the other side of the ocean; it won the Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature Film Award at the 16th Tribeca Film Festival in New York (16 – 30 April 2017).

Several Slovak films were presented at the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (30 June – 8 July 2017). The thriller The Line (Čiara) also received its première here; ultimately it won the Best Director Award for Peter Bebjak. The Jury granted the Crystal Globe for Best Feature Film to the Czech-Slovak Medieval road movie Little Crusader (Křižáček) by Václav Kadrnka. Censor (Cenzorka) by director and producer Peter Kerekes managed to attract interest in the Festival’s Industry Programme – it won the Works in Progress Award.

The family drama Nina by director Juraj Lehotský was also successful last year at an A-list festival; it won the FIPRESCI Award at the 33rd Warsaw International Film Festival (12 – 21 October 2017).

So far, only new films have been mentioned, but last year intensive work was also carried out on the international presentation of films from the Slovak Film Institute’s archives. Perhaps most significant was the participation of the full-length animated film by Viktor Kubal, The Bloody Lady (Krvavá pani, 1980) at one of the most highly regarded international festivals of classical films, the Lumière Grand Lyon Film Festival in France. The digitally restored version of The Bloody Lady received its world première there on 18 October 2017 in the Treasures and Curiosities Section. Works from the archives of Slovak cinema will be presented this year too, and one of these important presentations is, for instance, the screening of selected titles at the prestigious short film festival in Oberhausen, Germany that will take place at the beginning of May. These are predominantly films of the 1960s and they will be screened in the Presentation of Archives Section at the festival.

Zuzana Sotáková