Fans of films about the environment will be able to watch most of the competition films of the 46th edition of the EKOFILM festival online. They will find them from 4 to 7 December 2020 on the website www.ekofilm.cz thanks to the support of the internet TV service MALL.TV. After intensive negotiations, the organisers of EKOFILM have been able to secure all necessary licenses for the majority of the competition films. The film festival will thus take place, although the state of emergency, that was prolonged until 12 December, suspended all public film screenings. The already postponed film screenings should have happened on 27 and 28 November in Brno, but cinemas have to remain closed.
"The main priority at the moment is stopping the epidemic. Nevertheless, we didn't want to give up on the festival and its films. The main theme of this year's edition – sustainable consumption – is even more topical today. It is exactly right now when many services have been limited that we have the opportunity to think about our consumption. EKOFILM will make most of its competition films available online, so we can gain inspiration for solutions that will not be dependent on disposable products and packaging. Filmmakers from the whole world sent in their films full of inspiring ideas and recommendations on how to handle our consumption in the sustainable way, and both them and the audience deserve that the films are streamed notwithstanding the difficult times," says the Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic Richard Brabec.
The Grand Prize of the Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic Richard Brabec goes to the Russian film Sockeye Salmon. Red Fish. Thanks to the enthralling shots and testimonies of local experts, the film helps us become conscious of the fragile balance of natural ecosystems on which our lives depend.
The Festival President Ladislav Miko’s Award goes to the director Zdeněk Zvonek for his film Unrestrained Virgin Forest, that depicts the efforts of Czech nationals to preserve a part of an intact natural landscape of the White Carpathians in the form of a private forest reserve. The winner in the category Beauty of Nature is the American film The Last Ice by Scott Ressler. The jury selected the German film On Thin Ice by the directors Henry M. Mix and Boas Schwarz as the winner in the category Central European Films. From the ten films competing in the category Short Films, the Italian Robin Food by Pavel Maximov emerged victorious.
The recording of the Closing ceremony of EKOFILM 2020, hosted by Vladimír Kořen and Ladislav Miko, is available online, as well as the traditional Opening debate: Is consumption necessary? and the Opening music show with Captain Demo.
