The Slovak/Czech documentary Velvet Terrorists will be screened in the Forum section, the co-production film Mission Sputnik in the LOLA@Berlinale section and 7 Czech films will be shown at the film market. The State Cinematography Fund will be introduced at the Coproduction Market.
The Berlinale, a key event for the European film industry and for the Czech Film Centre, which is traditionally the official representative of Czech cinematography, is right around the corner. During the festival the Czech Film Center (CFC), together with Slovakia and Slovenia, will be exhibiting at the joint Central European Cinema stand (No. 140) at theEuropean Film Market. The stand will serve as the base of information and coordination for all those interested in Czech film. Each year 300-400 visitors to the market visit the stand, taking away information about current Czech films, about the infrastructure of the Czech film industry and about opportunities both in the area of international co-productions and in the area of services for foreign film crews. This year the stand’s partners are Barrandov Studios, the Karlovy Vary IFF, Zlín Film Festival and, new this year, Czech Televisions children’s channel ČT:D.In addition to the CFC, the National Film Archive and Czech Film Commission will also be presenting their activities here.
The Czech Republic has two representatives in the official programme of this year’s Berlinale. The Slovak/Czech co-production documentary film Velvet Terrorists from Peter Kerekes, Pavol Pekarčík and Ivan Ostrochovský was selected for the Forum section. Velvet Terrorists maps the terrorist actions of individuals in Czechoslovakia during normalisation. Questions of ethics, irrationality and the sense and murderous power of terrorism in today’s world play out on the background of the film’s main theme. The other representative with Czech participation is the German/Czech/Belgian children’s film Mission Sputnik from Markus Dietrich, selected for the LOLA@Berlinale section, which presents films pre-selected for the German national film awards.
Seven producers of Czech films have ordered projections at the film market: Jan Hřebejk’s Honeymoon,Viktor Tauš’ Clownwise, Martin Duba’s Bella Mia,Tomáš Vorel’s Uni, Jiří Mádl’s To See a Sea, Alice Nellis’ Revival and the co-production film A Very Unsettled Summer.
Another important event for Czech cinematography during Berlinale is the presentation of the State Fund of Cinematography, which will take place on the afternoon of 10 February as part of Berlin’s Coproduction Market. The fund will be represented by its director Helena Bezděk Fraňková.
Lucie Kajánková, the Programme Directorof the Mezipatra Czech Queer Film Festival, was nominated to this year’s panel of judges for the Teddy Bear Award, which has been awarding films with LGBT themes as part of Berlinale since 1987.
There are 6 representatives from the Czech Republic among the selected filmmakers at Berlinale Talents 2014: cameraman and director Adam Oľha, producer Veronika Janatková, director Ondřej Hudeček, distributor Petra Rut Opatková, director Robert Hloz and producer Tomáš Vach.
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