ZLÍN 2005 – INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
May 29 – June 4, 2005

The 45th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, which will last until Saturday, June 4, was started in Zlín on Sunday, May 29, 2005.

Every year, the Zlín film festival brings its viewers dozens of films from all over the world. The main pillars of the festival are international competitions of feature and animated films for children and youth. Within the framework of support for young filmmakers, the Zlín festival also includes an international competition of European debuts and a meeting of student filmmakers called Zlínský pes (The Zlín Dog). Traditional categories also include a presentation of documentaries for youth, the retrospective and informative sections, a presentation of feature films from Visegrad countries and a special day devoted to a selected national cinematography. The festival includes a new international competition of advertisements and commercial focusing on children called The Rainbow Marble. The 45th festival will offer its visitors a total of 418 films from 43 countries worldwide and dozens of supporting events – contests, games and shows both small and bigger children, seminars and workshops for both experts and the general public.

Juries consisting of Czech and foreign film experts, artists, journalists and students will judge films competing in six competitive sections. Members of the Main Jury will include Juraj Herz, Vahid Nik-khah Azad, Leontine Petit, Maryanne Redpath, and Alexander Mitta.

Out-of competition films will be screened within the framework of the Panorama, Documentary Films, or New Czech and TV Productions sections. By screening several selected films based on their works, the festival will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of H. Ch. Andersen and commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Jules Verne. In celebration of the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mrs. Jiřina Bohdalová, the festival will offer a selection of films featuring one of the biggest stars of Czech film, who captured the hearts of both small and big viewers. This year’s festival will again include a presentation of a selected European cinematography. After Germany and France, we will get the chance to take a closer look at gems from the north of Europe during the Scandinavian and Baltic Cinematography Day.

Zlín will also be visited by a number of delegations coming to introduce their films – at the screening venues and in the streets of Zlín, you will get the chance to see Kari Ketonen, starring in The Pelican Man, competing in the Feature Films for Children section, or the directing quartet Filippa Freijd/Martin Jern/Henrik Norrthon/Emil Larsso who will bring their feature film for youth Fourteen Sucks. Other delegations will present The Magic Roundabout, Good Neighbourhood, Mat the Cat, Kuktau (Sky Mountain), Snowboarders, A Little Piece of Heaven, Hayat, The Secret of Fern Flower, Terminal Station, The Imp (Czech Republic), Bombay Calling, Have a Good Trip, The Great Water, Two Syllables Behind, or The Imp (Estonia).

The supporting programme is an integral part of the festival: concerts, exhibitions, theatre, autograph parties of actors and singers, the Internet School, contests and games for children, traditional chalk drawing on pavement, a trip to the zoo, and many others. And of course there will be several events for film professionals and workshops. Let us mention at least the international competition of advertisers Rainbow Marble, Swiss Film Forum, the discussion panel Contemporary Filmmaking for Children and Youth in the Czech Republic and Worldwide, or workshops led by Ellen M. Harrington, curator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, or the legendary Russian director Alexander Mitta.

Zlín will also be visited by Czech and foreign film celebrities. Foreign festival guests include Jürgen Heinrich, Michael York, Pat York, Ellen M. Harrington, Bolhem Bouchiba, Alexander Mitta, Gedeon Burkhard, Sibel Kekilli, and many others.

The Zlín festival will present a total of 24 various awards and is proud to be held under the auspices of 14 different organizations and individuals. As of this year, the festival is also held under he auspices of Mr. Ján Figeľ, Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism.

The festival will reach its climax at a closing gala evening on Friday, June 3 at 8pm, broadcast live by Czech TV from the Velké kino Cinema in Zlín, and moderated by Jan Čenský, Vojta Kotek and Jiří Mádle.




SMS INFO

In order to inform the media more effectively, festival organizers provide the SMS Info service. Journalists wanting to receive updated information of programme changes or arrivals of festival guests can subscribe to the service.

To subscribe:
send an SMS with the text ZLIN REG to 736 304 030

To unsubscribe:
send an SMS with the text ZLIN UNREG to 736 304 030

The service is provided to owners of mobile phones of any operator and will be active from May 28 till June 5, 2005.
The service is provided by ATS Praha s. r. o.

PARTNEŘ AND PATRONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH ZLÍN 2005

The tenaciousness of the organizers and the growing importance of the project on the international level have caused the festival to be respected by leading Czech politicians. The Karlovy Vary IFF and the Zlín festival are today considered to be the two leading film festivals in the country and the Zlín festival is financially supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Czech Parliament. Other financial means are provided from the EU Media Programme and the International Visegrad Fund.

General partner: Allianz pojišťovna
Main partners: Škoda Auto, Microsoft, ČEZ, Impromat, Bawag Bank
Partners: DHL Express, CCS, České dráhy, Lesy České republiky, Metrostav, Jelínek, Preciosa, Ateliery Bonton Zlín, ČSA
Media partners: Český rozhlas 1 - Radiožurnál, Česká televize, Právo, Blesk, Seznam.cz, Rádio Zlín, In Zlin, Magazín města Zlína, Marketing&Media, Premiere, Xantypa, Sluníčko, Zlin.cz

Just like in the previous year, the festival is organized under the auspices of Mr. Pavel Dostál, the Czech Minister of Culture, the Czech UNICEF Committee, and the Czech UNESCO Commission. New patrons include Mr. Ján Figeľ, Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism.

The Rainbow Marble, a competition of advertisers, will for the first time have an international status and is organized under the auspices of the European Association of Communication Agencies and the Czech Association of Communication Agencies (AKA ČR).

The Scandinavian and Baltic Cinematography Day will be held under the auspices embassies of all participating countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), the Swiss Film Forum section has been prepared under the auspices of the Swiss Embassy in Prague in cooperation with the Swiss Consul, Mr. Jacques Ducrest.




FESTIVAL IN NUMBERS

Total number of films: 418
Total number of competing films: 165
Number of competitive sections: 6

Competing films by categories: Feature films for children 8
Feature films for youth 8
Animated films for children and youth 69
European debuts 10
Films from Visegrad countries 7
Zlínský pes (The Zlín Dog) 63

Number of out-of-competition films (Informative section): 253
Out-of-competition films by categories: Scandinavian and Baltic Cinematography Day 13
New Czech films 4
New Czech TV productions 8
Swiss Film Forum 6
Panorama 33
Documentaries 15
Lifetime Achievement Award (Jiřina Bohdalová) 5
Jules Verne 4
Zlínský pes (The Zlín Dog) 65
Bedtime Stories Celebrating 40 70
DVD 30

Number of participating countries: 42

Total number of awards: 22
Total number of juries: 9

Number of screening venues (Zlín only): 9
Number of exhibited clapperboards: 105


FESTIVAL RECORDS

The shortest film: Safe by Lucy Lee (UK, 1 min)
The longest film: Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of Blue Owls (Germany, feature, 119 mins)
Section with the largest number of films: animated films (69)
The oldest film: The Emperor's Nightingale (directed by Jiří Trnka, 1948)
The latest film: Madagascar (USA, animated, premiered on May 27, 2005)
The film hardest to get: Mirage (Macedonia, from the debuts section)
Film from the remotest place: Big All At Once (documentary) and The Twelve Months and Top Shelf (both animated, Australia)
JURIES

Main Jury (secretary Jindra Veselská, 605 580 641)
Juraj Herz, director (Czech Republic/Germany)
Vahid Nik-khah Azad, producer (Iran)
Leontine Petit, producer (The Netherlands)
Maryanne Redpath, Programme Director, Kinderfest (Germany)
Alexander Mitta, director (Russia)

Animated Films (secretary Lina Eidová)
Boris Hybner, actor and mime (Czech Republic)
Bolhem Bouchiba, animator, Pixar Animations Studios (France)
Milan Lesniak (Czech Republic)

European debuts (secretary Míša Hermanová, 776 754 501)
Fardus Atásí, director (Syria)
Zuzana Gindl-Tatárová, film professional, university lecturer (Slovakia)
Johan Bogaeus, producer (Sweden)
Uschi Reich, producer (Germany)
Jiří Svoboda, director (Czech Republic)

Visegrád (secretary Petra Slavíková, 721 862 299)
Petra Rossi, film school graduate (UK)
Moritz Mayerhofer, WAM film school student (Germany)
Christian Hoerlesberger, student, Filmschule Vienna (Austria)
Adrian Kukal, FAMU
Luca Bronzi, Turin film school (Italy)

FICC (secretary Jana Forejtarová, 737 226 097)
Ivan Čech
Astrid Friberg
Birgitte Bratseth
Sally Murphy

Ecumenical (secretary Lenka Zábranská, 723 041 723)
Holger Twele, film journalist (Germany)
Lukáš Jirsa (Czech Republic)
Izabela Bostan (Rumania)

Animated for Children (secretaries Monika Stryková, 776 157 907 and Petra Stryková 723 267 001)
Jana Figulová, aged 15 (Trenčín)
Anna Sienkiewicz, aged 15 (Chorzow)
Ondřej Slabihoud, aged 15 (Prague)
Natálie Králová, 15 let (Prague)

Feature for Children
Karolína Janálová, aged 15(Zlín)
Kateřina Malárová, aged 15 (Zlín)
Jan Vlk, aged 13 (Zlín)
Dominika Antolová, aged 10 let (Levice)
Lucie Brázdilová, aged 13 (Zlín)
Martin Ciklamini, aged 15 (Boršov)
Tereza Bílá, aged 14 (Boršov)
Eva Kubincová, 14 let (Trenčín)
Agnieszka Stencel, aged 15 (Chorzow)
Dan Reimitz, aged 13 (Zlín)
Kamila Vacková, aged 15 (Zlín)

CELEBRITIES


Jürgen Heinrich
Popular German actor, well-known to Czech viewers especially thanks to his role on Inspector Wolff in the Inspector Wolff’s Precinct.

Michael York
British actor, well-know for a number of Shakespearian roles, in the Czech Republic known especially as D'Artagnan from Dumas’ Three Musketeers. Apart from being a film actor, he also works in theatre, writes stories and records audio books.

Pat York
American photographer, writer and wife of Mr. Michael York. She will present her photographs in Zlín at an exhibition titled Imaging and Imagining: The Film World of Pat York.

Ellen M. Harrington
Exhibitions curator and programme director of the Oscar-awarding Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. Mrs. Harrington, an assiduous producer and organizer of exhibitions throughout the world will lecture at Zlínský pes (June 30, 3pm, Otto Wichterle Hall, Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín).

Bolhem Bouchiba
Pixar Animation Studios animator, creator of the character of little Tarzan and animator of two main characters in The Incredibles. He will be member of the animated film jury and will lead a Pixar Animation Studios workshop (June 2, 4pm, O. Wichterle Hall, Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín).

Alexander Mitta
Russian director well-known in this country especially thanks to his film Shine, Shine My Star. He will be member of the Main Jury and will lead a screenwriting workshop at Zlínský pes (May 30, 5pm, O. Wichterle Hall, Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín). Mitta’s 1983 fairy-tale The Story of the Voyages, which was censored by the Czech Communist regime, will be screened on Friday, Jun 3 at 5pm at O. Wichterle Hall, Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín.

Towards the end of the festival we expect the arrival of the German Actor Gedeon Burkhard, best-known thanks to his role in the Inspector Rex TV series, and Sibel Kekilli, holder of the Best Female Actor award from the Berlinale for her role in Head-On.

SUPPORTING EVENTS

Concerts
Apart from films, the festival will also bring a lot for music lovers.

KRYŠTOF, Tuesday, May 31, 8pm, Novesta Sports Hall
Czech TV Day on Tuesday, May 31, will reach its climax with a concert of the Ostrava band Kryštof at 8pm at the Novesta Sports Hall. The festival organizers, Czech TV and the Town of Zlín, under the auspices of which the concert will take place, would like to invite everyone to the concert with free admission. An autograph part with the band’s frontman Richard Krajčo will take place before the concert at 3.30pm in Náměstí Míru square.

SUPERSTAR, Wednesday, June 1, 7pm, Náměstí Míru square
A joint concert called Superstar 2004, organized as one of the supporting events of the 45th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, will be featuring two of the last year’s finalists of the Czech Superstar competition, Šárka Vaňková and Julián Záhorovský. Just like the Kryštof concert, the Superstar 2004 concert is also free of charge for all festival visitors.

VEČER NADĚJE, Thursday, June 2, 8pm, Zlín Town Theatre
As part of the supporting programme of the 45th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, the Drop of Hope Foundation Fund, founded by Mrs. Vendula Svobodová in 2000, will for the third time organize a Benefit Concert together with the presentation of awards for charity work. The concert titled An Evening of Hope will take place on Thursday, June 2, 2005 at 8pm at the Zlín Town Theatre. The MCs will be Dana Morávková and Tomáš Krejčíř. Appearances at the concert, organized under the auspices of Mr. Libor Lukáš, the Zlín Regional Administrator, have already been confirmed by Petr Muk, Petr Kolář, Maxim Turbulenc, Iveta Bartošová, and Tereza Kerndlová. The honorary guest of the Evening of Hope will be the most successful Czech hitmaker Karel Svoboda, whose film music ranks among the gems of Czech cinematography. The proceeds from the sale of tickets, which have been on sale since May 9, 2005, will together with other contributions by partners and donors be spent on new equipment for the Bata Regional Hospital in Zlín.
Admission is CZK 150.00.

Exhibitions
An opening of the exhibition of photographs of celebrities by the American photographer Pat York will take place on Sunday, May 29. The exhibition will be opened by the author at 6pm at Galerie Forum, Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín. Another part of the exhibition will be opened at the Nostic Palace in Prague on June 1 and will remain on display until September 1, 2005.

On Tuesday, May 31 at 6pm, the mime Boris Hybner will open an exhibition of paintings by the painter Josef Velčovský.

During the festival week, the Zlín chateau will host an exhibition of photographs by the leading Czech photographer Jakub Ludvík. It will be opened on Tuesday, May 30 by the author and the singer Petr Janda.

The opening of the Minisalon 2005 exhibition of original film clapperboards, made by leading Czech and foreign artists, will take place on Sunday, May 29. The exhibition will be closed on Friday, June 3 at 2pm with an auction of clapperboards at the Meeting Hall of Academia centrum, Tomas Bata University in Zlín.

For the 7th time, the festival organizes an international exhibition of visually impaired and blind children called The Joy of Creating. Their works will be exhibited during the festival at Academia centrum, TBU in Zlín, in front of the screening venue. Exhibition opening with a prize-awarding ceremony takes place on May 31, 2005.


Events for film professionals
The festival supporting programme includes the Rainbow Marble, an international competition of commercials and print ads. The project also consists of the Child and Advertising conference, dealing with topical issues. It is being organized not only for employees of advertising and communication agencies, but also for students of related fields and marketing managers of companies acting as clients (for more details see a separate press release).

The Swiss Film Forum section will introduce interesting projects from the dynamic Swiss cinematography. Switzerland has in recent years attracted much attention with a number of debuts and an untraditional perspective of a new generation of directors.

Participants of a panel discussion titled Contemporary Filmmaking for Children and Youth in the Czech Republic and Abroad will include Czech and foreign filmmakers, producers and other guests. Its main task is to summarize the current status of filmmaking for children and youth worldwide and open a discussion focusing on the future of filmmaking for these target groups, searching for resources and possibilities of co-production, legislation, taxes, state support and series, family films and new formats. The main idea of the organizers is to facilitate the origin of new projects.

Satellite towns
For those who cannot get to the Zlín festival, organizers have prepared screenings in satellite towns. They include Horní Lideč (sports centre), Otrokovice (Otrokovická beseda), Uherské Hradiště (Kino Hvězda), Slušovice (Racing track), Ostrava (Kino Art), Praha (Palace Cinemas Nový Smíchov), Brno (Špalíček) and Dohňany in Slovakia (sports centre).






2005 FESTIVAL AWARDS

16 Festival Awards
GOLDEN SLIPPER – main prize for best feature film for children
GOLDEN SLIPPER – main prize for best feature film for youth
GOLDEN SLIPPER – main prize for best animated film for children

CHILDREN’S JURY MAIN PRIZE – feature film for children
CHILDREN’S JURY MAIN PRIZE – feature film for youth

THE EUROPA AWARD – best European debut
SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE EUROPEAN DEBUT JURY – best European debut

TOWN OF ZLÍN AWARD – special recognition for a feature film for children
MILOŠ MACOUREK AWARD - special recognition for a feature film for youth
HERMÍNA TÝRLOVÁ AWARD – special recognition for an animated film for an under-35 director
MINISTER OF CULTURE PRIZE – feature film from a Visegrad country

AUDIENCE AWARD – best feature film
AUDIENCE AWARD – best animated film

DON QUIXOTE PRIZE – feature film, awarded by the FICC Jury
ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD – feature film, awarded by the Ecumenical Jury

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – for filmmaking for children and youth

4 Zlínský pes Awards
ZLÍNSKÝ PES – best animated film
ZLÍNSKÝ PES – best feature film
ZLÍNSKÝ PES – best documentary
ZLÍNSKÝ PES – best new form film

4 Rainbow Marble Awards
RAINBOW MARBLE for best commercial (awarded by the International Expert Jury)
RAINBOW MARBLE for best print advertisement (awarded by the International Expert Jury)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION for best commercial (awarded by the Children’s Jury)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION for best print advertisement (awarded by the Children’s Jury)

Authors of festival awards
Most of the festival awards were made by the jeweller Miroslav Žák and the Preciosa glassworks.
The EUROPA AWARD was made by flat glass designer Valér Kováč
The MINISTER OF CULTURE PRIZE was made at the Královská huť s. r. o. company in Doksy.
The Rainbow Marble was designed by the academic sculptor Radim Hanke. It was made with the help of the ironmaster Roman Hvězda at the Charlotta Glassworks in Karolínka by the master glassworker Jan Štefánik.




SCHEDULE OF PRESS CONFERENCES AND BALCONY PARTIES


Date Time Description
May 29 17:00 Meeting with the juries

May 30 9:00 – 10:00

11:00 – 11:45


14:00 – 15:30
Main press conference – Festival opening (Press Room)

Press conference (Press Room)
Michael York, Pat York, Ellen M. Harrington, Gita Fuchsová

Balcony Party (balcony of Moskva Hotel, Zlín)

Michael York, actor
The Magic Roundabout (P):
Jana Hloušková (General manager, SPI – film distributor), Lenka Picková (PR)
Goblin’s Math (SA):
Ilja Bereznickas (director)

May 31 14:00 – 15:30 Balcony Party (balcony of Moskva Hotel, Zlín)

Good Neighbourhood (ČN):
Karel Smyczek (director), Marča Arichteva (producer), Jaroslav Kučera (producer), Lucie Konášová (screenplay), Pavel Trojan (actor), Anna Kulovaná (actress)
Mat the Cat (SD):
René Vilbre (director), Madis Ollikainen (actor, role of Mat), Kadi Sink (actress, role of Martha), Vainokivi Manfred (camera)
Fourteen Sucks (SM):
Filippa Freijd, Martin Jern, Henrik Norrthon, Emil Larsso (directors)
Kuktau (Sky Mountain) (D):
Svetlana Bukharaeva (producer), Alina Rizvanova (executive producer), Anrey Zakharov (actor)

June 1 11:00 – 12:00




14:00 – 15:30 Microsoft: „Is Internet Safe for Your Children?“ (Press Room)
Guests: Jiří Devát (General Manager, Microsoft CR and SR), Jan Toman (Manager for the field of education, Microsoft CR and SR), Libor Lukáš (Reginal Administrator, Zlín Region)

Balcony Party (balcony of Moskva Hotel, Zlín)

Michal Foret, singer
A Little Piece of Heaven (VIS):
Petr Nikolaev (director)
Snowboarders (SM):
Karel Janák (director), Barbora Seidlová (actress), Martina Klírová (actress), Braňo Polák (actor), Martin Písařík (actor), Lucie Vondráčková (actress), Jiří Mádl (actor), Pavel Melounek (producer), Jan Nejedlý (producer), David Prudký (PR)
The Pelican Man (SD):
Kari Ketonen (actor, leading role)
Hayat (SD):
Gholamreza Ramezani (director), Mohammad Bagher Ashtiani (producer)
The Secret of Fern Flower (P):
Tadeusz Wilkosz (director)

June 2 14:00 – 15:30 Balcony Party (balcony of Moskva Hotel, Zlín)

Karel Svoboda, composer
Jiřina Bohdalová, actress
Terminal Station (VIS):
Jiří Chlumský (director), Stanislav Štepka (actor) Juraj Štepka (co-producer)
The Imp (Czech Republic) (ČN):
Tomáš Vorel ml. (actor), Nicol Prokešová (actress), Romana Brožková (producer)
Bombay Calling (SM):
Gayathri Mudigonda (actress, role of Ebba), Lena Koppel (director)
Have a Good Trip (D):
Robert Ralston (director)
The Candles (SA):
Victor Azeev (director)

June 3 13:00 – 14:00

14:00 – 15:30
Main press conference – Closing of the festival (O. Wichterle Hall)

Balcony Party (balcony of Moskva Hotel, Zlín)

The Great Water (P):
Ivo Trajkov (director), Vladimír Chrenovský (producer)
Two Syllables Behind (VIS):
Miki Křen (actor), Jan Gogola (programmer), Alexander Šurkala (camera), Marek Majesky
Madagascar, Valiant (P):
Pavel Novák, Marek Jeníček (Bontonfilm – distributor agents)
The Imp (Estonia) (ND):
Helle Karis (director)
Film School Zlín
SWISS FORUM producer Susan Rüdlinger from the Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion company (Strähl, Meier Marilyn)

June 4

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