The Czech Film Center has been promoting short films for a number of years, primarily at major film festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad. This next selection of short films continues in the tradition of the last three years. The principle aim of this edition is to draw attention to young filmmakers, and to help Czech short films findtheir way into the international film market.
Also, over the past year, the Czech Film Center has been cooperating with the organizers of the Český lev (Czech Lion) Awards. The Czech Film Center longlists films for one of these awards, the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film.
This is the fourth annual volume of Czech Short Films DVDs, and after its release at the Prague cinema bio OKO it will continue its tour at the 35th International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand (1-9 February 2013). This International Short Film festival is run in conjunction with a major film market, the 28th Short Film Market. Every year, around 3000 film professionals visit the festival and market, to whom the Czech Film Center takes the opportunity to present Czech cinematography.
In 2013 the Czech Film Center stand is organized in the partnership with the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU)and the Association of Animation Film (ASAF).
The films presented on the DVD Czech Short Films Vol. 4, 2013 were selected from 239 entrants by a jury of film professionals that included the publicist Vojtěch Rynda, the programme director of the Prague Short Film Festival Karel Spěšný, and Niké Papadopulosová, who – after her work as art director, a graphic, and an art designer for the Czech commercial television station TV NOVA – has been working for the Czech public television broadcaster Česká televize, where she was also a member of a small team that worked on the graphics for the čT1 channel re-design in 2007. The jury also included Petr Horák, the creator of the iShorts project, and Markéta Šantrochová from the Czech Film Center.
The jury also long-listed twenty films for one of the Český lev Awards, the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film. Over the past year, the Czech Film Center has been working in cooperation with the Czech Film and Television Academy, which organizes the Český lev Awards. From the twenty films selected by the Czech Film Center, the Czech Film and Television Academy shortlisted five candidates, and during the nomination ceremony for the Český lev Awards – which is to be held in the cinema at the Lucerna Palace in Prague on 2 February 2013 – they will choose the winner in the Best Student Film category, a prize which comes with a reward of 100,000 CZK.
The films selected for the DVD include live-action, animated and documentary films up to 40 minutes in length from Czech film schools: FAMU in Prague, the Film Academy of Miroslav Ondříček in Písek (FAMO), the Tomas Bata University in Zlín (TBU), plus one independent production.
Vojtěch Rynda describes this year’s selection: “I think our selection this year could be brought together in the word “wit”. In short films, the best way to catch people’s attention is to focus on humour, or a simple but interesting idea, and this is what comes over in the latest set. But behind the apparent simplicity, there is also a lot of invention and hard work…”
Niké Papadopulosová commented: “It was very difficult to choose the final few films, but I was really fascinated by the films from FAMO: they are witty, clear, daring, professionally made, and they are not too long or over complicated.”
“In the animated films I found some beautiful pieces made by students of animation at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín. They really captured my attention by their use of narrative, their integrity, but most of all by their visual impact. The film Kde rostou motýli? (Where Do The Wild Butterflies Grow?) byVladimíra Macurovámade the deepest impression on me, but my favourite of all the films is probably Adam Sedlák’s Tereza Dratvová, nar. 1989 (Tereza Dratvová, born 1989) because of the purity of composition and its powerful story, shot from one camera angle with no cuts. This film was really something out of the ordinary, and I can still see it in my mind, even two months after I watched it.”
Karel Spěšný sums up the DVD: “This DVD is important for young Czech filmmakers not only because their films might reach the programme directors of festivals and TV stations across the world, but also because it might help them realize they can quite easily make films the whole world will want to watch; that their project might be much more ambitious and important than they suppose. When they want, from the beginning of their careers, to make films that are attractive not only to university examiners but also to cinemagoers in Berlin or Buenos Aires, in just a few years Czech cinematography can become less parochial, and represented at, say, Sundance or in Venice.”
The DVD includes, for example, the film Office Workers, which was screened at the prestigious festival of first and short films, Premiers Plans – European First Film Festival, in Angers in January this year. Over the past few years, films on the previous volumes of the DVD have – thanks to the DVD itself, and other activities of the Czech Film Center – been screened at around fifty festivals a year.
Films on the DVD Czech Short Films Vol. 4, 2013:
IN VINO VERITAS - Aneta Žabková Kýrová / CZ 2012 / animation / 10 min / FAMU
After 25 years, three middle-aged women meet and compare their life stories. Who is the happiest and most satisfied?
VELKEJ HONZA | BIG HONZA - Marek Ciccotti / CZ 2012 / live action / 22 min / FAMO
Dumpling. Schnitzel. Onion. Dumpling. This just about sums up Honza’s life. He is stuck in a dead zone. An amusing but testing journey awaits him through life in the modern world of dating. And he might even manage to heal some of those old scars he was trying to run away from.
POSLEDNÉ LÉTO | THE LAST SUMMER - Juraj Klaudíny / CZ 2012 / documentary / 9 min / UTB ZLÍN
A short, poetic documentary that draws you into the magical world of family traditions, the connection between a man and nature, and savouring the different flavours of life.
M.O. | M.O. - Jakub Kouřil / CZ 2012 / animation / 7 min / FAMU
The story of an elderly woman who orders a mechanical grandpa by mail in order to put an end to her loneliness.
PARADIGMA / PARADIGM - Martina Nagyová / CZ 2012 / live action / 20 min / UTB ZLÍN
Once upon a time, in a place yet unknown, a place undefined, there was a little house with an even stranger story. Once you enter the door you realize that, unlike the world we know, this place is not under the rule of people. Forget the rules in the real world and let the flow of the visual mosaic of feelings and absurd relationships carry you away.
ČECHOVÉ NA MĚSÍCI / CZECH OUT THE MOON - Matěj Mráz / CZ 2012 / animation / 7 min / FAMU
The story of Czech out the Moon is based on a fictional memory from the director's childhood, in which his dreams come true. It begins on the tenth birthday of a boy who makes a wish to be the first ‘man’ on the Moon. His wish comes true, but the family trip is far from ideal. Nobody thought ‘In space we are not alone.’ The story was inspired by authentic memories and is an allegory of leaving one's homeland.
JEDEN DEN V ŽIVOTĚ| A DAY OF LIFE - Jan Látal / CZ 2012 / documentary / 16 min / FAMU
A graphic record of life made up of all the things a person owns. The film’s director accompanies the protagonist in his search for his roots in the resulting image as the shape of things portrays his relationships and adolescence. It depicts the generation now in their thirties, whose problem is often that they have no problems.
NUMBERS / NUMBERS - Robert Hloz / CZ 2012 / live action / 10 min / UTB ZLÍN
Wandering the streets looking for help, Nick meets a girl with the same problem. They know nothing about each other and seem to know everything about everyone else. Sometimes the less you know, the better...
OFFICE WORKERS / OFFICE WORKERS - Sangeun Won / CZ 2012 / animation / 10 min / FAMU
Tři zaměstnanci pracují a žijí ve stejných budovách, ale přesto na sebe nemluví a nezajímají se o sebe. Jednoho dne jim ale jejich skryté problémy začnou ničit život.
TEREZA DRATVOVÁ NAR. 1989 / TEREZA DRATVOVÁ, BORN 1989 - Adam Sedlák / CZ 2012 / animation / 16 min /FAMO
What led Tereza Dratvová, a young girl, to such an act? Why are cars, hidden under the roof in our yard, safer than people, and what are the chances of escaping from here? An existential thriller shot in one take.
O ŠUNCE | HAM STORY - Eliška Chytková / CZ 2012 / animation / 6 min / UTB ZLÍN
An animated, imaginative story about the grey, everyday ordinariness of life. A story about imagination, held in chains for so long, now released with all its might; about an innocent children’s game of playing God.
BKA 49-77 / BKA 49-77 - Jan Pavlacký / CZ 2012 / live action / 21 min / Monolog Films / Partnership Pictures
Involved in a car accident, Petr and Martina are suddenly thrown into a situation where saving somebody else’s life could put their own in danger. Caught between fear and guilt, they have to choose between bad and even worse. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story from the various perspectives of everyone involved, and questions how much responsibility we have for the actions we take.
KDE ROSTOU MOTÝLI ? | WHERE DO THE WILD BUTTERFLIES GROW? - Vladimíra Macurová / CZ 2012 / animation / 6 min / UTB ZLÍN
A little creature is born into a fantastical world and meets other beings while looking for friendship. A short, poetic story about the search for kindred spirits.
VALAŠSKÉ RUGBY| WALLACHIAN RUGBY - Tomáš Pavelek / CZ 2012 / documentary / 15 min / FAMU
Wallachia, plum, hill, tree, sawmill, ball, shovel, slivovitz, friends... let the game begin!
CESTA | THE TRIP - Ondřej Dolejší / CZ 2012 / animation / 6 min / FAMU
An audiovisualmeditationon the theme of The Trip.
