Slovak production company ALEF Film & Media Group (www.afm.sk) also plans to sign an agreement on distribution of Muzika with Czech Television in Karlovy Vary.

Since its premiere in Slovak cinemas on April 17, 2008, Muzika has achieved extraordinary success for a Slovak film. Just three days later, Muzika swept up nine prizes at the Slovak national film awards Sun In a Net which are held every two years, and recently the film was nominated for the European Film Academy Awards.

To date, more than 30,000 viewers have seen the film, the highest attendance for a Slovak film in Slovak cinemas in the new millennium. "We are glad that Slovak audience started to believe in Slovak film," stated ALEF president Marian Urban said in a press release.

Now Muzika heads abroad. "Beside screening in Karlovy Vary IFF, other international film festivals have showed interest in Muzika, for example IFF Mannheim, IFF Locarno, IFF Cairo, and the Sundance Film Festival," said ALEF press manager Natalia Boknikova.

"The budget for the film was €1.16 million, of which the Slovak production company ALEF Film & Media Group (www.afm.sk) accounted for 52%," Urban told FNE in an email exchange. "The German partners, box!Film (box!Film Gmbh, www.boxfilm.de) in cooperation with Cine plus (cine plus Media Service GmbH & Co. KG, www.cine-plus.de) and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (www.mdm-online.de), contributed 48%."

Because of the German participation in the production, an agreement on cinema distribution in Germany is expected soon. In addition, an agreement on licensing for world-wide distribution with the German Bavaria Media GmbH (www.bavaria-film.de) is in preparation, Boknikova said.