Zlín Film Festival
Zlín Film Festival, also known as the International Film Festival for Children and Youth is an annual festival of children's film in Zlín in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1961 in the former Czechoslovakia, the festival gradually gained international attention. The audience consists mainly of children and youth from the Zlín region, but also university students and adult visitors who come to late-night screenings with appropriate dramaturgy, as well as film professionals from around the world.
The anniversary 60th Zlín Film Festival will be held from May 29 to June 6, 2020.
History
The establishment of a regular film festival in Zlín was the result of efforts by local filmmakers to present their work in a local atmosphere. The first festival took place in 1961, 20 years after a previous film festival had been held in Zlín, named Film Harvest or Zliennale. Film Harvest, held in the war years 1940-41, attracted most of the stars of that period's highly productive and internationally successful Czech and Slovak films. The main program was held in Zlín's Grand Cinema, the largest cinema in Central Europe at that time. The capacity of the building, completed in 1932, was over 2,500. The Grand Cinema is still open today, and hosts the opening ceremony of the festival.In 1936, entrepreneur Jan Antonín Baťa founded a new film studio in the city, which gradually turned into Czechoslovakia's most prominent centre of filmmaking focused on children and youth. Film-makers such as Karel Zeman, Hermína Týrlová, Alexandr Hackenschmied, Břetislav Pojar and Josef Pinkava created their works in the Zlín film studios. The town's film-making tradition continues today in its two film schools.
Programme
The competitive sections of the festival include new films shot within the last two years. They are accompanied by films from other festivals and classic works of world cinema. Apart from the five competitive sections, the festival includes a number of informative and retrospective sections, including full-length documentary films. Each year the cinematography of one European nation showcased.Competition Sections
- International Competition of Feature Films for Children
- International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
- International Competition of Short Animated Films for Children
- Competition of European First Feature Films
- Competition of European Documentary Films for Young Audience
- Zlín Dog - International Competition of Student Films
Out-of-competition Sections
- New Czech Film and TV Programmes: Presentation of Czech cinema and TV production from the year.
- Panorama: Informative section – presents mostly films awarded at other festivals which cannot compete in one of the competitive sections.
- Young Stars Films introducing young actors whom the audience can meet in person in Zlín.
Supporting program
One festival project is the Cinematrain, a railway car modified into a projection room that travels around the Czech Republic and Slovakia for a few weeks before the film festival. The festival is also the annual end of the Minisalon project - an auction of artistically rendered film. Czech artists and other celebrities design these film clapperboards during the autumn and winter. The collection of art works is then displayed and auctioned off during the film festival. The funds raised from their auction go to support student film productions.
Awards
- Golden Slipper – Main prize awarded to the best feature film for children, youth, and animated film.
- Jury Prize for Best Children Performance in a Feature Film for Children
- Jury Prize for Best Youth Performance in a Feature Film for Youth
- The Hermína Týrlová Award – Award for young artists under 35
- Children´s and Youth Jury Awards - prizes awards to the best feature films for children and youth
- Golden Apple – The City of Zlín Audience Award for Best Feature Film
- The Europe Award – Awarded to the best European debut feature film
- Karel Zeman Award - Special Recognition for Best Visual Concept
- Ecumenical Jury Award
- ''ECFA Award – for Best European Documentary Film for Young Audience
Winners
- 2019| 59th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Giant Little Ones, dir. Keith Behrman, Canada
Best animated film: Cloudy, dir. Filip Diviak, Zuzana Čupová, Czech Republic
Best European first film: The Unpromised Land, dir. Victor Lindgren, Sweden
Best European documentary for children: How Big Is the Galaxy?, dir. Ksenia Elyan, Estonia, Russia
Best student film: Provence, dir. Kato De Boeck, Belgium
- 2018| 58th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Barley Fields on the Other Side of the Mountain, dir. Tian Tsering, United Kingdom
Best animated film: Blueberry Hunt, dir. Kateřina Karhánková, Alexandra Májová, Czech Republic
Best European first film: The Best of All Worlds, dir. Adrien Goiginger, Austria
Best student film: Leave of Absence, dir. Moshe Rosenthal, Israel
Best European documentary for children: Wilder Than Wilderness, dir. Marián Polák, Czech Republic
- 2017| 57th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Just Charlie, dir. Rebekah Fortune, United Kingdom
Best Animated Film: Two Trams, dir. Svetlana Andrianova, Russia
Best European first film: Heartstone, dir. Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland
Best student film: Shujayya, dir. Mohammed Almughanni, Poland, Palestina
- 2016| 56th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Keeper, dir. Guillaume Senez, Belgium, Switzerland, France
Best Animated Film: The Orchestra, dir. Mikey Hill, Australia
Best European first film: Rag Union, dir. Mikhail Mestetskyi, Russia
Best student film: Peacock, dir. Ondřej Hudeček, Czech Republic
- 2015| 55th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Behaviour, dir. Ernesto Daranas, Cuba
Best Animated Film: The Elephant and the Bicycle, dir. Olesya Shchukina, France, Belgium
- 2014| 54th ed.
Best feature film for youth: The Kings of Summer, dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts, U.S.A.
Best Animated Film: Mythopolis, dir. Alexandra Hetmerová, Czech Republic
- 2013| 53rd ed.
Best Feature Film for Youth: So Much Water, dir. Ana Guevara Pose, Uruguay, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany
Best Animated Film: Pilipka, dir. Tatiana Kublitskaya, Belarus
- 2012| 52nd ed.
Best Feature Film for Youth:Death of a Superhero, dir. Ian Fitzgibbon, Germany, Ireland
Best Animated Film:Harbor Tale, dir. Yuichi Ito, Japan
- 2011| 51st ed.
Best feature film for youth: Hold Me Tight, dir. Kaspar Munk, Denmark
Best animated film: Larghetto, dir. Jaroslav Nykl, Czech Republic
- 2010| 50th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Sebbe, dir. Babak Najafi, Sweden
Best animated film: Lost and Found, dir. Philip Hunt, United Kingdom
- 2009| 49th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Max Embarrassing, dir. Lotte Svendsen, Denmark
Best animated film: Post!, dir. Christian Asmussen, Matthias Bruhn, Germany
- 2008 | 48th ed.
Best feature film for youth: The Substitute, dir. Ole Bornedal, Denmark
Best animated film: The Bears Stories, dir. Marina Karpova, Russia
- 2007 | 47th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Hoppet, dir. Petter Næss, Sweden
Best animated film: Tyger, dir. Guilherme Marcondes, Brazil
- 2006 | 46th ed.
Best feature film for youth: We Shall Overcome, dir. Niels Arden Oplev, Denmark
Best animated film: Cartoon, dir. Pál Tóth, Hungary
- 2005 | 45th ed.
Best feature film for youth: Fourteen Sucks, dir. Filippa Freijd, Martin Jern, Emil Larsson, Henrik Norrthon, Sweden
Best animated film: Music Shop, dir. Sofia Kravtsova, Russia
- 2004 | 44th ed.
Best feature film for youth: 4th Floor, dir. Antonio Mercero, Spain
Best animated film: Music Shop, dir. Michéle Lemieux, Canada
- 2003 | 43rd ed.
Best feature film for youth: White Oleander, dir. Peter Kosminsky, Germany, USA
Best animated film: I Want a Dog, dir. Sheldon Cohen, Canada
- 2002 | 42nd ed.
Best feature film for youth: And Your Mother Too, dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico, USA
Best animated film: Choo-choo-2, dir. Garri Bardine, Russia