Czech Film Center has been involved in operating a pavilion representing Czech cinema at Cannes since 2004. Like last year, this year's pavilion represents both Czech and Slovak cinema and is organized in cooperation with the Slovak Film Institute.

This year, the Czech-Slovak pavilion will open with a welcome drink party at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 14.

While the Czech Republic will not be represented in the festival's official program this year, the following Czech movies will be screened and offered for sale or for screenings at festivals at the accompanying film market: a fantasy-adventure combining actors and puppets, Kooky /2010, Jan Svěrák/; an intimate war drama, Protektor /2009, Marek Najbrt/; a drama focusing on informing under the Communist regim, Kawasaki's Rose /2009, Jan Hřebejk/; and a story set during World War II, based on real events and made as a German-Czech-Austrian coproduction, Habermann /2010, Juraj Herz/.

Czech producers will also be presenting their in-development film projects at the Marché du Film, such as Salon Gruber and Berlin Station (Barrandov Studios), Slavic Epopee and Magical Meteor (Jakubisko Film), Touch the Rainbow Rallymovie (2landa), To the Sea, Tales from Gingerland, Monsters and Detectives (Evolution Films) and others.

Markéta Šantrochová of Czech Film Center says:

"Besides our usual promotion and marketing of new Czech cinema and the Czech Republic as a great shooting location, this year we intend to focus more on minority co-productions' opportunities to obtain support from the State Fund, which were recently announced. We see great potential for Czech cinema there. Another big issue will undoubtedly be the film industry incentives, whose approval we are anxiously awaiting."

Each year, Czech Film Center and European Film Promotion, which promotes European film at international festivals and markets, organize Producer on the Move - a three-day event at Cannes for young European producers. This year, producer Pavel Berčík of Evolution Films was selected to represent the Czech Republic. Pavel obtained a degree in production from the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 2008, he became a member of ACE - European Producers Network (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen). He has produced a number of commercials, shorts and documentaries. Selected filmography: Frankie Is a Womanizer - feature, dir. Jan Prušinovský; The Baluty Ghetto - feature-length documentary, directed by Pavel Štingl, Trilobit 2008, awarded at the Crossroads of Europe Festival in Lublin, Poland, nominated for a Czech Lion in 2009; A Tear is Needed - animated short, directed by Kristina Dufková, Best Animated Film, AniFest Třeboň 2009. At the moment he is working on the animated fantasy film Tales from Gingerland (dir. Tomáš Hubáček) and the Polish-Czech-German drama Yuma (dir. Piotr Mularuk).

The pavilion representing Czech and Slovak cinema at Cannes this year is organized by Czech Film Center with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and in cooperation with the Slovak Film Institute and SAPA (Slovak Audiovisual Producers Association) with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

CFC's official partners for the pavilion are Barrandov Studios and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

For more information, please visit http://www.filmcenter.cz/

Contact:

Markéta Šantrochová, GSM: +420 724 329 948,

also GSM in Cannes (May 12 -23, 2010): +33 679 143 303

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.