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FESTIVALS Czech Republic

Zlín Film Festival gathers 361 films for youth and children

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- One of the oldest film festivals for children is getting ready to kick off on 27 May

Zlín Film Festival gathers 361 films for youth and children
My Name is Emily by Simon Fitzmaurice

The 56th edition of the Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth will screen 361 films hailing from 56 countries. The main programming structure consists of five competitive and eight non-competitive sections, including the International Competition of European First Films. Some of the European debut movies follow teenage protagonists in stories such as Eliza Petkova’s Zhaleika [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, tackling the topic of collective judgement; the Portuguese drama Mountain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Salaviza
film profile
]
by João Salaviza, a sombre rumination on the process of growing up; the domestic film I, Olga Hepnarová [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda
film profile
]
by Petr Kazda and Tomás Weinreb, which was critically acclaimed on the festival circuit; Simon Fitzmaurice’s existential title My Name is Emily [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
,starring Michael Smiley, the first feature film to be written and directed by a director suffering from motor neurone disease; Svetla Tsortsorkova’s Thirst [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile
]
; and the German film Sanctuary [+see also:
trailer
interview: Louis Hofmann
film profile
]
by Marc Brummund, based on true events and set inside a correctional facility.

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“We are trying to construct the individual sections to be understandable by the viewer so that the core and the meaning of the festival will be clear. It is not a significant conceptual change, but rather a gradual process,” commented artistic director Markéta Pášmová with regard to the development of the upcoming edition’s programming. The International Competition of Feature Films for Youth will welcome the Berlinale-premiered Czech coming-of-age drama In Your Dreams! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Guillaume Senez’s award-winning feature debut Keeper [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Guillaume Senez ­
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile
]
and Hany Abu-Assad’s crowd-pleaser The Idol [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, among others. “This year, we have two main retrospective sections – the Days of French Cinema and the 80th anniversary of the Zlín film studio. The two themes are related to one another: France is considered one of the cradles of cinema, while the Zlín film studio is thought of as one of the cradles of animated and children’s film in the Czech Republic,” Pášmová told Cineuropa.

The festival organisers have prepared several accompanying events, including the Film Lab, a demonstration of digital technologies alongside practical workshops; a presentation of works in progress, such as the upcoming transmedia project The Slimy Case, an interactive, animated detective film; the 13th edition of the Cinematrain initiative, a travelling showcase of the festival’s films for those unable to visit the gathering itself; a seminar entitled Child in Crisis; and the Young Stars special section, which introduces emerging actors and actresses to the audience, among them Daphné Patakia from Spring Awakening and Keeper’s lead actor, Kacey Mottet Klein.

The 56th edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth runs from 27 May-3 June in Zlín, the Czech Republic.

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