09/02/2005

This year, for the third time, the Czech Film Center (CFC) will be present at the European Film Market during the Berlin Film Festival (10th-20th February) to continue its action aiming at the promotion of Czech cinema which is as a matter of fact totally absent from the competition this year. They have scheduled a series of screenings, as a "catalogue 2004" for their national production; it includes a selection of 18 feature films, 7 documentaries, 10 short films and animation films, as well as 18 other films which will be released in 2005. Moreover, on Monday the 14th, the stand CFC is hosting a special debate on Czech cinema and scriptwriting with the participation of three directors, Alice Nellis, Sasa Gedeon, and Börkur Gunnarsson, and a young actor, Jan Budar selected as Shooting Star 2005 for the European Film Promotion.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Besides this special event, 8 Czech films were programmed at the market, ensuring great success for the AQS World Sales, which handles international sales for Dirty Soul by Milan Cieslar, Non Plus Ultras by Jakub Sluka, and Men’s Show by Martin Kotik. The other companies also present, as they have always been in the past few years, are Czech Television-Telexport with a line-up including The New Bread by Jiri Svoboda, and Lovers and Murderers by Viktor Polesny, Menemsha Entertainment which keeps managing the sales of the national success Up and Down by Jan Hrebejk, Bionaut Films with Bitter Coffee by Börkur Gunnarsson, and Taskovski Films with Czech Dream by Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak. Finally, for the Berlinale Co-Production Market taking place on the 13th and the 14th, a Czech film was selected amongst the projects in quest of funding: Tomas Masin's Three Seasons in Hell, a film which is also a first step into cinematic fiction for the producer Monika Kristlova (Dawson Production).