The Zlín Film Festival, which specialises in films for children and young audiences, will open its doors for the 55^th time this year (29 May - 4 June), boasting a line-up packed with 363 films from 52 countries, more than half of which are premiere screenings (13 world, 59 international and 103 domestic premieres). “The programme offers very colourful and unrepeatable mosaics of world cinema. We will present films from unconventional destinations such as the Dominican Republic, Lebanon and Nepal,” artistic director Markéta Pášmová explains while introducing the 2015 edition. Five international competitions and nine out-of-competition sections make up the backbone of the festival’s structure.

The international competition for European debut feature films will host the first outings of promising filmmakers, such as Saskia Diesing’s Nena [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Tallulah H Schwab’s Confetti Harvest [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Guy Myhill’s The Goob [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Guy Myhill
scheda film], Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt’s The Spiderwebhouse and Dominik Hartl’s Beautiful Girl [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. The fairy tale Seven Ravens [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a Czech-Slovakian co-production by Alice Nellis, which will be having its domestic premiere, will be competing in the international competition of feature films for children, alongside Yuriy Feting’s Celestial Camel, François Girard’s Boychoir and Robert Connolly’s Paper Planes. The Slovakian film Hostage [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Juraj Nvota, Sanna Lenken’s My Skinny Sister [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sanna Lenken
scheda film] and Eirik Svensson’s One Night in Oslo are set to be screened in the international competition of feature films for youth audiences. During the closing ceremony, the Golden Slipper Award will be handed out to the Best Feature Film for Children, the Best Feature Film for Youth and the Best Animated Film. The Europe Award for Best European Debut, the Golden Apple Audience Award and a special recognition for a feature film for children, the City of Zlín Award, will also find new owners on the same night.

This year’s spotlight is focused on German cinema, which will be represented by “a wide collection of more than 50 feature films... with internationally lauded, historically substantial and worthy titles as well as newer films,” adds Pášmová. Classics such as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Faust, Frank Beyer’s Jacob the Liar, Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of The Tin Drum and Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari will sit alongside a crop of titles from the past year, including Mark Monheim and Martin Rehbock’s About a Girl [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Arend Agthe’s My Friend Raffi, and Thomas Heinemann’s Lola on the Pea, in this vast retrospective. Furthermore, two hot topics will be addressed by film professionals at conferences organised within the Film Industry programme: these are the low level of domestic production of films for children and young audiences (“Production of Czech Films for Children and Youth in a European Context”), and the ever-topical issue of film piracy (“Downloading Film or Movies Is Not Free!”, co-organised by the Czech Anti-Piracy Union).

The 55^th edition of the Zlín Film Festival runs from 29 May – 4 June in the city of Zlín.

The rich programme can be viewed on the gathering’s website.