The 64th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, known as the Zlín Film Festival, is set to take place from May 30 to June 5, 2024. As the world’s oldest film festival of its kind, it will feature fifteen Slovak films, including feature films, short films, and student films. Among these, five Slovak films will be competing in various sections.
Each year, the festival’s International Competition of Student Films Zlín Dog, receives over 2000 submissions. This year, three Slovak films have been selected for the competition. The selected films include the documentary Poisoned Well (d. Radek Ševčík) and the animated film Dream Rotation (d. Katarína Jelínková, Darya Sidorova, Viktória Zimmermannová, Rebeka Vakrčková). Both films were produced by the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). Additionally, Electra, directed by Daria Kashcheeva and previously featured at Cannes Film Festival in the La Cinef section, has been selected.
In the International Competition of Short Animations for Children (up to 12 years of age), two Slovak films will be screened. These include Everything We Missed, directed by Marta Prokopová, which explores the rediscovery of bond between a woman and her dog during the pandemic, and Bobo, directed by Veronika Obertová, created for a special kindergarten for children with visual impairments.
The festival will also showcase Kaytek the Wizard, directed by Magdalena Lazarkiewicz, in the World Children’s Film Panorama section. This section highlights recent award-winning titles for children and young people from other festivals.
Furthermore, new Slovak films will be featured in the New Czech Films and TV Programmes section, including #annaismissing (d. Pavel Soukup), Waltzing, Matilda (d. Petr Slavík), Dry Season (d. Bohdan Sláma), Photophobia (d. Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol Pekarčík), I Don’t Love You Anymore (d. Zdeněk Jiráský) and Three Golden Ducats (d. Mariana Čengel Solčanská).
The festival’s Open-Air Cinema will entertain audiences with popular hits such as We’re Going to Teambuilding (d. Zuzana Marianková), Space Frank (d. Rudolf Havlík) and The Last Aristocrat 2 (d. Jiří Vejdělek).
