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Academia Film Olomouc is entirely FREE! International Festival of Popular-Scientific and Documentary Films Academia Film Olomouc Popular scientific film is a unique category of documentary film, a significant entity of cinematography. The objective of our festival is to present films of this genre to general as well as academic public.
The Academia Film Olomouc is the oldest festival in the Czech Republic to focus on consistent mapping of popular scientific and documentary film. It was founded in 1966 within a joint initiative of Short Film Prague, Palacky University and Czechoslovak Academy of Science. At present its main organizer is Palacky University in Olomouc.
 1th AFO 2009 Press Relase!Press release: 2009-02-11 The 44th annual of the international festival of popular-scientific films, which belongs among the most renowned events of its kind in Europe, takes place in Olomouc from the 14th through the 19th of April, 2009. Academia Film Olomouc – the unique platform where science and art meet – is, again, organized by Palacky University in Olomouc. Following the pattern of the former annuals, the festival programme will be sectioned into several traditional blocks. Besides the CZECH and INTERNATIONAL competition, which aims to award the best popular-scientific films of the last year, there is the section HOMAGE that is devoted to Mark Rissi, one of the pioneer artists who deal with the issues of animal rights. An important component of this block is the selection of his latest films shot in China, as well as his older pieces which handle several congenial themes through narrative film. Mark Rissi will personally introduce his choice of foreign documentaries he considers to be the most influential contribution to the discussions about environmental issues. Are we standing at the trashhold of knowledge about the universe, or is it still a Spanish village for us? This question may characterize one of the 44th AFO annual central themes titled SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE. The guarantor is the Czechoslovakian physics magazine (Československý časopis pro fyziku). The highlight of this year’s Academia Film Olomouc festival is the section called HOUSE M.D. – TRUTH OR MYTH? The problems of the depiction of the current medical trends in the fictional audiovisual shows will be discussed by a prestigeous American journalist, CNN corespondent, Emmy award owner Andrew Holtz who is also the author of the bestseller book: “The Medical Science of House, M.D.“ The diversity of the 44th AFO programme will be complete thanks to other exceptional thematic areas. One of the brand new sections is called GENDERRR and its long-range vistas aim to introduce the problems of emancipatory thinking and the field of gender. The issues of gender socialization as a part of everyday life of both the mature and the kids is the main point of departure of this year’s pilot block. It deals with the processes of “repetitive learning of being man or woman“ which we all experience sice our early childhood without even realizing. Another social-scientific block is called SOCIAL EXPERIMENT – EXPERIMENTS ON HUMANS and focuses on the history and morality of experiments with human beings. The intitiative is the unique penitentiary experiment in Stanford in 1971, when a group of volunteers was placed into an artificial environment, following the roles of convicts and wardens. History is the aim of a preview from one of the most influential American popular-scientific projects of the thirties and the fourties – Popular Science. It is an invitation for the next annual where the theme will be dealt with in detailed focus thanks to Czech and foreign historians. Even this year, AFO organizers provide both the visitors and the wider public with several other options besides the pupular-scientific audiovisual shows: discussions, film screenings at the Upper Square in Olomouc, exhibitions, a student film competition. The traditional part of every Academia Film Olomouc annual is also the accompanying music programme. This year, it is the Czech electronic music classic – Ohm Square from Prague; the holders of several Popular Music Academy awards – indie rock band Sunshine; a new generation folk singer Niceland and an original hip-hop duo Čoko Voko. For those how won’t be able to come and experience the 44th Academia Film Olomouc annual, they will have chance to to watch a news daily aFokus on the Czech Television. The festival events will be also reflected on a day-to-day basis through the festival magazine Afohled which will extend its paperback presentation to the blog on AFO website. After the end of this year’s annual, AFO in region will provide also other towns within Olomouc region with a portion of AFO programme. Even several other chosen cities (Vienna, Paris, Brussels) will be given the chance to see the Festival Echoes. “There is more than two hundred films from all around the world that registered for the Academia Film competition. Academia Film Olomouc provides the audience with films and programme blocks that could be found exclusively here,and its range and variety makes it the leading Europian festival of its kind. I believe that the audience will again enjoy the great atmosphere, films and accompanying programme,“ invites AFO 2009 director Petr Bilík. Besides the support of more than a hundred of UP students, AFO organizational team enjoys the third year of the partnership with the International Documentary Festival Jihlava. Accreditation/admission to Academia Film Olomouc is entirely FREE! In addition, those who will manage to accredit through afo.cz website until March 31st, 2009 are provided with free accomodation.
18.02.2009 | afo's blog Cat. : 2nd millennium Academia Film Olomouc Academy Awards AFO 2009 Andrew Holtz Author BRUSSELS China CNN Director Emmy Award Entertainment Entertainment Europe festival AFO Academia Olomouc Humanities International Documentary Festival Jihlava Journalist Mark Rissi Niceland Ohm Square Olomouc Olomouc District Palacky University Palacky University Palacký University of Olomouc Paris Person Career Petr Bilík Popular Science Prague singer Stanford Sunshine Technology Technology Upper Square Vienna FESTIVALS
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1st AFO 2010 Press Relase!
.:: A Workshop of Gay Science ::.
The 45th year of the International Festival of Science Documentary Films Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) will take place in Olomouc from the 13th to 18th of April, 2010. Following the pattern of the former years, AFO will expertly and innovatively map the fields of humanities, social and natural sciences that are in contact with audiovisual media, and thus it will offer an open meeting point for science and art. As the festival is organized by the Palacký University in Olomouc, the audience meets world film professionals and scientific specialists as well as an open and creative student environment here.
"The biggest film festival of the region will surprise its visitors with its unconventional methods and attractive program, which has no equivalent in the Czech Republic. AFO is no closed academic event. It is a festival for everyone who wants to share knowledge through interesting, yet provocative films. Its raising popularity was proved by full halls in the last year, and after visiting several European festivals of science documentary films, I must say with pleasure that AFO is ranked among the world's top," says Petr Bilík, the festival director.
The rich festival program will be divided into several traditional thematic sections. Besides the Czech and International Competition, within which framework the best scientific audiovisual works of the past year will be awarded, it is the Studio section, which gives the audience a unique opportunity to watch technically and aesthetically progressive pictures as well as meet their authors, attend lectures on current issues that those films deal with, and discuss them with specialists. It is particularly the dialogic and interactive - "workshop" - nature of the festival that makes Academia Film Olomouc a unique one among other European festivals. Other expected themes of the 45th year is a look into the world of autism, the witchcraft phenomenon, anarchism as a philosophical and cultural trend, alternative human anthropology, and many others.
"It is high time to upset the traditional image of science as a closed or incomprehensible space and scientists as its dry arbiters. AFO festival is a sovereign experiment that has been breaking myths about "unattractiveness" of science for many years. By screening aesthetically quality films, it proves with vigour that science is above all an adventure of the spirit and a supreme cultural gesture," states the program director of the festival Veronika Klusáková.
This year's Homage section will be dedicated to the main festival guest, lord Robert Winston, the Professor Emeritus of the British Imperial College London and presently one of the most significant figures who popularise natural sciences and medicine across the world. The range of Robert Winston's specialised as well as hobby activities is huge: he is a gynaecologist and a specialist in the treatment of infertility (In vitro fertilisation - IVF), the Professor of Science and Society at the Imperial College London, a long-time host of scientific programmes of the BBC, an author of more than 300 scientific publications, in which he deals not only with medicine, but also with social and ethical questions connected with scientific research, and also an extraordinary saxophone player. The most recent activities of Robert Winston are the initiation and creation of the space for the ROL (Reach Out Lab), where children of all age are lead towards discovering the most modern scientific technologies. His last publication is an interactive book The Evolution Revolution: From Darwin to DNA.
The graphic studio ReDesign gives face to the festival, as it did the last year. Last year's graphics, blazing with feverish colours, is replaced by the 45th annual clothed in silent, dark blue attire with radiant neons evoking boundless swarming within the universe as well as magical play with fire.
The accompanying program is an inseparable part of every AFO. Besides traditional film screenings at the town square and concerts, the festival will be accompanied by a unique photographic exhibition depicting a corona appearing during the eclipse of the sun. The pictures were made by a group of scientists from Brno, led by Professor Druckmuller, and were published on the cover of the prestigious scientific magazine Nature.
Those who will not be able to attend the 45th year of Academia Film Olomouc personally, will have a possibility to watch daily news programme aFokus through the Czech Television broadcasting. Course of the festival events will be reflected daily by the AFOhled magazine, which will be issued in printed version and as a blog on the Academia Film Olomouc website. Once the festival is over, the traditional project AFO into Region will take place, which enables a part of the program to get into other towns of the Olomouc region. Festival Echoes will take place in selected Czech and European cities.
Accreditation for Academia Film Olomouc is entirely for FREE!
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