The opening night ceremony also included the presentation of the Golden Camera Award to Serbian director Emir Kusturica. The following night featured the presentation of the Actor's Mission award to Hungarian actor Janos Ban, who first made his mark in Slovakia costarring as the "village idiot" with Slovak actor Marian Labuda in Jiri Menzel's Oscar-nominated film My Sweet Little Village (Vesničko má středisková), written by Zdenek Sverak. On Sunday, 19 June, Sverak himself receives the second Actor's Mission Award, rounding out the opening weekend festivities.

Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko heads the competition jury. The festival will screen 100 full-length films, and a total of 194 films in all, representing 53 countries.