6th Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia

This year the 6th Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia embraces the theme of “Spring” – the symbol of a fresh start – and commemorates several notable Czech and Slovak anniversaries. The most significant of these are undoubtedly the centenary of The Czechoslovakia independent declaration and a half century since the Prague Spring, a short period of political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia. On this special occasion, festival will bring a programme that reflects history of the former country, successful contemporary cinema and short documentaries to the audience of Melbourne (September 12 – 26, 2018) and Canberra (October 18 – 21, 2018).

Black Days by four directors (d. Ladislav Kudelka, Milan Černák, Štefan Kamenický a Ctibor Kováč), compilation of archival footage, is a telling of the events of August 1968 from a distinctly Slovak perspective. Another films from National Film Archive collection of Slovak Film Institute are Celebration in the Botanical Garden, debut by Elo Havetta and 322 (d. Dušan Hanák), free-associative mosaic of late 1960s society.

The Australian audience will also have a chance to get to know more about contemporary Slovak and co-production cinema. Wide range of topics and genres will be shown in film selection that consists of drama about man in his fifties who lost his job Out (d. György Kristóf), charming comedic drama set during the final days of World War II Barefoot (d. Jan Svěrák) and the Main Competition title from Karlovy Vary 2018 Domestique, debut by Adam Sedlák. The festival has prepared screenings for younger generation as well. Latest film by Andrea Sedláčková Backstage is a dance film full of passion, music, energy both about and for young preople. Families with children will have a good time by watching The Oddsockeaters by Galina Miklínová, highly entertaining animated feature about small creatures who live alongside humans and are responsible for the socks that go missing when we only have one left from a pair – the odd sock.

Two shorts will be presented at the festival – collage of memories, still photography and narration Prysia´s Garden by Mišo Suchý and the mockumentary about Czech phenomenon Sandwiches – the Czech Treasure by Mária Pinčíková.

Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia is organized by Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia (CaSFFA) and IKSIMA Films. Presentation of the Slovak cinema is financially supported by Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Úrad pre Slovákov žijúcich v zahraničí and covered by production company ARINA and Slovak Film Institute. The partners of the festival are the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Australia (Canberra), the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.

Programme of the Slovak films at the festival: