The Zlín Film Festival has its spring part behind it, an event that went almost (despite a drive-in cinema) entirely online. “Altogether, online visitors spent nearly 120,000 minutes on our films and broadcasts, which is the equivalent of over 82 days,” says Executive Director Jarmila Záhorová.
The history and present state of cinema in Zlín was recalled during a talk show, broadcasted from a studio developed and built by the festival team, under the title “Zlín Film Lives: We’ve Been Making Film for 85 Years!” Zlín is a film city again! Marketa Pasmova (Artistic Director): “Our region is capable of creating opportunities and conditions for filmmakers, while Zlín schools educate students who are able and willing to take part in filmmaking. We feel that Zlín is indeed back on the map of the film industry.”
The online catalogue was streamed on the festival’s own platform, created especially for this purpose. But not only to be used domestically – one specific project enabled children in seven countries around the globe to watch a selection of festival films. Around fifty thousand children in Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey, Cuba, Ukraine and India, had the opportunity to watch a series of animated films that went by the title “Check the Czechs“, thanks to the cooperation with friendly foreign festivals and on-the-spot Czech centres. “This is an unprecedented project and a great representation of Czech animated cinema,” says Festival President Čestmír Vančura.
The second part of the 61st Zlín Film Festival will take place from 9 – 15 September in its usual format, with traditional film screenings and a supporting programme.
Find out more at www.zlinfest.cz