04/05/2005

Martin Sulik’s drama Slunecni stat (The City of the Sun) was awarded the Golden Kingfisher at this year’s Finale Plzen festival, at the city of Plzen (Pilsen), increasing its chances of making well in important festivals later on this year. Sulik’s film is a Slovak-Czech co-production about the trivial life of a group of people living in the northern Czech city of Ostrava, striving to make ends meet. It has struck critics with its sharpness and honesty in depicting its characters. Sulik, himself a Slovak, does not believe that the Plzen (Pilsen) award would secure him the top prize in this year’s Karlovy Vary International Festival, where his film is, thus far, the only confirmed representative of Czech/Slovak cinema. "But it might at least make people pay a little bit more attention to us" he said.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Another of the most important awards, that of the festival’s international film clubs jury went to Jan Hrebejk’s commercial hit Horem padem (Up and down), while the public overwhelmingly voted in favor of Filip Renc’s new film Roman pro zeny (A woman’s novel), another box office hit in the making, which has already been watched by more than 166,000 since its theatrical release less than a month ago.
The "Finale Plzen festival", April 25-May 1, is a popular annual showcase for Czech film, old and new. This year’s 18th edition has seen some sold out crowds, especially for the popular feature films, but also some half empty screenings, mainly in the documentary section.