03/05/2010

Two Slovak documentaries, Marko Škop's Osadné and Miro Remo's Arsy-Versy, are screening this week at the Hot Docs documentary film festival in Canada.

Osadné focuses on a small Slovak village on the eastern edge of the European Union. The film portrays in a wry light the village leaders’ attempts to boost their community's dwindling prospects by boosting tourism and appealing to politicians in Brussels. Osadné was named Best Documentary at last year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Arsy-Versy is the story of Luboš, an amateur photographer fascinated with bats, and his mother who supports him in his unorthodox research and in life. Arsy-Versy screened at South by Southwest earlier this year and received Special Mention at the 2009 East Silver Market.

Also screening in Toronto is Estonian director Jaak Kilmi’s Disco and Atomic War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which examines the former Soviet Union's attempts to block Finnish broadcasts of popular culture into the Baltics.

All three films were submitted as part of the East Silver Caravan selection by East Silver, the first documentary market dedicated exclusively to Central and Eastern Europe. East Silver is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film, whose main partner is the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Hot Docs runs April 29-May 9 in Toronto.