The 16th DAYS OF EUROPEAN FILM will open with the Romanian film Boogie
(directed by Radu Muntean, 2008) in the Světozor theatre in Prague on 16 April 2009. Alexandru Baciu who wrote the screenplay for this film and who cooperated with this director in the previous film Hartia va fi albastra (The Paper Will Be Blue, 2006) will be a guest at the ceremonial opening.
In the following days, the audience will be able to watch 29 feature films, 5 documentary films and 17 short films in the Světozor and Lucerna theatres. The range of genres at the 16th Annual
Days of European Film is highly varied this year and we hope that every spectator will be able to choose the films of their preference. Younger generations will certainly appreciate films such as Fighter (directed by N. Arthy), a Danish film, where the revolting main female character is more interested in kung-fu than in school attendance. The Finnish film Ricky Rapper (Riso Rappaaja, directed by M. Rantasil) tells the story of a ten-year-old "passionate drummer" and his somewhat peculiar rock'n'roller aunt. The Irish film 32A (directed by M. Quinn), taking place in Dublin in 1979, suggests that coming of age is difficult everywhere in the world... The interesting Turkish film Egg (Yumurta; directed by S. Kaplanoolu), which has received many festival awards, has become the hit at prestigious festivals not only in Europe. The bestsellers of the well-known writer Judith Herrmann were used as the literary basis of the German film Nothing But Ghosts (Nicht als Gespenster; directed by M. Gypkens). The film consists of short stories taking place in the beautiful settings of the Nevadan desert, Jamaica, Berlin or Venice and deals with unfortunate loves, thwarted hopes and uprootedness of the Generation X. Another film popular with the audience is the Italian film Good Morning Heartache (Riprendimi; directed by A. Negri) - this unusual comedic romance competed at the Sundance Festival and it has successfully represented the young Italian cinematography.
Detailed information on the individual films, including their international success, is available in an organised format in a bilingual catalogue. Catalogues will be available to the audience
FOR FREE at the box offices of the Světozor and Lucerna theatres. The catalogue can be downloaded from the website already now.
We would also like to present to you in greater detail the section dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. This section consists of morning screenings of documentaries reflecting on this historical period (11.00 in the Lucerna theatre) and we wish to reach particularly the student audience who fortunately do not have personal experience with this period. German cinematography is represented by the film THE WALL (Die Mauer; Jürgen Böttcher, 1989/90). The Polish-French documentary One Day in People's Poland (Jeden dzien w PRL; directed by Maciej Janusz Drygas, 2005) will take us to the Poland of the year 1962. As a bonus, the film 89 mm from Europe (directed by Marcel Loziňski, 1993) will be screened. Another documentary is a film titled Memories of a Border Guard-dog (Les mémoires d'un chien - frontière), directed by Karel Prokop, 1998/58 min. The Czech Republic is represented by the film Citizen Havel, acclaimed by the critics as well as the audience. This film was directed by Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek; 2008/120 min (Czech Lion - the Prize of Film Critics - The Best Documentary).The films will be interpreted into the Czech language through headphones. The price of the tickets to these morning screenings is 50 CZK. The screenings are open to the public.
The works of young filmmakers: The Academy of Performing Arts, the Film Academy of
Miroslav Ondricek and the Secondary and Tertiary Vocational School in Písek will traditionally present their short films in one block. There will also be a second block consisting of a selection
from the FRESHFILMFEST, festival of film schools.
Seminar: On Friday 17 April at 11.00, a seminar will take place in the building of FAMU
(The Academy of Performing Arts), the main topic of which is Screenplay Writing and Development Process. How to write a good screenplay? Will an ideal guide or method be found? Pavel Jech, the dean of FAMU, will be the moderator of this international debate. Milena Jelinek from the Columbia University will be a special guest. Guests from film schools in Poland, Romania and Slovakia will attend the seminar. The seminar will be interpreted into the Czech language. This year's innovation, the audience poll for the best screenplay of the presented films, is related to the topic of this seminar. It will be possible to vote not only in the theatres (using voting papers) but also through the website. Thus, the audience themselves will choose the film with the best screenplay, the author of which will be rewarded with an amount of 1,500 EUR. The winning screenplay will be announced during the ceremonial closing of the festival.This contest has been organised and sponsored by the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic. From among the voting audience, winners will be determined by drawing lots on 5 May and these winners will receive interesting prizes.
Accompanying programme: A night full of surprises has been prepared for the fans of Cabaret Caligula for Saturday 18 April.The proficient improvisers of Radio Ivo will change the theatre's audience into the listeners of a sound drama... Cabaret Caligula will present its new vaudeville inspired by second-rate film genres, and in the end, we will be able to watch the cult film of all times, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. This programme starts at 23.00 - in the Světozor theatre. Admission fee is mere 100 CZK.
The Prague part of DEF will be closed by the film Paris 36 (Faubourg 36; directed by Christophe Barratier, 2007). The screening of this exceptional film will be a distribution prepremiere. The film was shooting in Prague and was directed by Christoph Barratier, who debuted with the film Les Choristes, which was the most attended French film of 2004 and was also nominated for two Oscars, among other awards.
The film delegations for individual films are not yet final. The following guests have been confirmed: BOOGIE - Alexandru Baciu, the screenplay writer (15/04 - 17/04); LOUISE'S GARDEN - Maciej Wojtyszko, the director (18/04 - 20/04); THE LAST CARAVAN - Peter Beňovský, the director (21/04 - 23/04); WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY MORNING - Grzegorz Pacek (17/04 - 19/04); MEMORIES OF A BORDER GUARD-DOG - Karel Prokop, the director (21/04 - 23/04).
Like every year, the festival will move from Prague to Brno where films will be screened in the Art theatre from 25 to 30 April. In Olomouc, the films will be screened in the Metropol theatre from 27 to 30 April. This year, the Echoes of DEF in regions will take place in Boskovice in the Panorama theatre from 27 - 29 April, in Veselí na Moravě in the Morava theatre from 28 to 30 April and in Uherské Hradiště in the Hvězda theatre on 4 and 5 May.
You can find detailed information on the website http://www.eurofilmfest.cz/ where you can also watch the brand new jingle with Pavel Trávníček and Jan Přeučil. After last year's success, the jingle was again made by Bistro films and by the duo of directors called Mods.
Accreditation for journalists: Upon request, we will send you an accreditation form by e-mail; or it is available for download on the website in the Press section. You can send in the filled-in forms by e-mail or you should deliver them in person at the reception desk in the building of the registered office of DEF, Národní 28, Prague 1, not later than by 10 April. Accreditation cards will be available for collection in the Světozor theatre on 14 April from 15.00 to 19.00.
Price of the tickets: We can make the audience happy by announcing that the price of the tickets will remain unchanged; it will be 90 CZK in Prague (the tickets to the morning screenings of documentaries will cost 50 CZK), 80 CZK in Brno and 70 CZK in Olomouc.
The festival is organized by the embassies and cultural institutes of the current and future member states of the European Union and the Capital City of Prague with support from the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic, the Czech Ministry of Culture, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Brno Cultural Centre and Pastiche Filmz.
The general partner is FILM+; the main media partner is Czech Radio - Radiožurnál; the media partners are the Óčko TV station, the Expresradio station, the Houser weekly magazine,
the Respekt weekly magazine, the E15 daily newspaper and Student Agency.
On behalf of the festival team
Jana Gabrielová
Contacts:
Address for mail: Národní 28, Praha 1, 110 00
Tel.:+420 602 273 946
Fax: 221 105 303
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
E-mail - for journalists: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www. eurofilmfest.cz
