First things first. Ladies and gentlemen, many thanks to all of you for joining us this year! Whether you've missed or wanted to experience a bit of Czech / Slovak culture, have a thing going on for foreign movies or wanted to support our festival... Everything counts :)
As a result, even though there were less movies(17) than last year, the movie attendance exceeded our expectations. So did newsletter subscriptions, with new people signing up everyday. While we couldn't provide the usual hospitality the festival loyalists among you are used to (#CovidRestrictions) the festival atmosphere remained incredible. This was no doubt in part due to the amazing performances by SaxBeats and DJ Eric, making you enjoy yourselves during the festival opening & closing screenings respectively.
Adding to the list, we'd say everyone's favourite 'beton' (Becherovka & tonic water), wine, Czech beer, as well as Fidorky, Tatranky, Horalky and other desserts undoubtedly helped make everyone happy and in good spirits too.
When it comes to movies, one documentary was screened as the world premiere (Video Kings) and five feature films had their Australian premiere. Two of those five movies (The Man with Hare Ears & Shadow Country) were screened at the festival even before their distribution in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which means some of you got to see them before the audience back home.
As for the audience film survey, you've rated the following three movies the highest:
- 1st place: Charlatan (84%)
- 2nd place: Shadow Country (82.6%)
- 3rd place: Far Too Personal (75%)
The fairy tale Princess Cursed In Time was also very well received, though we couldn't include it in the survey since there weren't enough people who participated... Of those who voted, almost 90% rated it as excellent.
However, the most controversial film this year turned out to be the Slovak thriller Scumbag, which divided the audience into two camps: either they were extremely excited or, on the contrary, quite disgusted. This is best illustrated by the comments of a mother and her son... The son, who lives in Australia permanently, unequivocally condemned the film for being false on many levels and gave it the worst rating, while the mother who was only visiting liked the film very much and called it true.
Viewer reactions also showed that the short films are an inseparable part of the festival now and that the viewers enjoy them as much as the feature films.
As for the prize draw, these are this year's winners:
- 1st place: Filip Zahradnik
- 2nd place: Zuzana Droppa
- 3rd place: Tereza Mensdorf-Pouilly
Big congratulations to you all!
We've said it once and we'll say it again. Thank you!
To you, our viewers, to our partners and sponsors for their support, to DENDY Cinemas for the amazing venue, as well as to all volunteers for their dedication & time.
You are the reason why we do this & your support means a lot to us. See you next year :)