Taking a Special Mention was Czech film star Jiri Madl’s directorial debut To See the Sea, a story freshly told through the eyes of its young filmmaking lead character and his best friend.
Prizes were widely distributed to an array of productions, further broadened by the addition of competitions for TV comedies and TV dramas. The 2014 festival expanded its main competitions (for feature films and for documentary films) even more by the inclusion of Slovak films in all categories. The last time the festival had made a major change was in 2003, when it added a documentary competition. The Finale festival, which marked its 27th edition, was in a sense returning to its roots when, during its first five years, it was the national festival of Czechoslovakia. As coproductions between the two divorced countries continue to strengthen, bringing Slovakia back into the festival fold seemed a natural move. In fact, Slovak-set and Slovak-directed films had won the past two editions of the Finale festival.
As the festival team prepares for the anticipated resignation of its longtime festival director Ivan Jachim, it has been building up its industry programme as well. Jachim told FNE that he will likely stay on for the 2015 festival, which will be a major event on the calendar during Plzen’s turn as a European Capital of Culture. The festival is then expected to be handed over to executive director Eva Verunkova Kosarova. Speaking with FNE, she said that the addition of the TV competitions (along with a TV-heavy industry programme) was seen as the way for the festival to grow.
“The main reason for the new competition is that there isn’t any other TV platform where TV and film can meet, and no other platform where TV shows can compete with each other,” she said. “There’s been a tendency for TV shows to be of higher quality, and the distinction between film and TV has been blurred. We want to distinguish TV programmes and give them their own independent categories.”
The festival’s industry programme was aided by input from FAMU film school’s young Midpoint programme for new film school graduates embarking on their earliest professional film projects. Professionals from across Europe and the U.S. addressed current issues including the rise of quality TV and which projects should aim for TV rather than film production.
The Finale Plzen film festival, which concluded on 3 May 2014, honoured the 80th jubilee years of two of the giants of Czechoslovak cinema: Slovak director Juraj Herz, who served as head of the international jury, and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek, who received a three-film tribute.
A complete list of awards follows:
Best Film: Like Never Before (Total Help Art)
Special Mention: To See the Sea (Bio Illusion)
Best Documentary: The Great Night (nutprodukce)
Best TV Drama: Circus Bukowsky (Czech TV)
Best TV Comedy: The Fourth Star (Czech TV)
Audience Award for Best Film: Wings of Christmas (Cineart TV Prague)
Best Performance in a Film: Richard Krajco in Wings of Christmas
Student Jury Award for Best Film: Like Never Before
Student Jury Award for Best Documentary: Czech Journal: Gadjo (Hypermarket Film)
Best Female Documentary Director under 35: Linda Kallistova Jablonska for Young Offenders (Czech TV)
Best Documentary Director under 35: Martin Dusek for The Analogs (Czech TV)
Association of Film Clubs Award for Best Film: Burning Bush (HBO Europe)
Association of Film Clubs Award for Best Documentary: Show! (nutprodukce)
