FANTASTIC PLANET (René Laloux, 1973) For its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Zlin Film Festival, which climaxes with its Awards Ceremony this evening, has been a treasure trove of cinematic gems from the past 50 years of Czech cinema. Aside from the better known films from the Czech canon (incuding such award winners as THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET, CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, FANTASTIC PLANET, THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, KOLYA and the classic films of the celebrated animator Karel ...

 THE PERFECT AGE OF ROCK N ROLL (Scott Rosenbaum, USA) Well, the good news is that after several days of torrential rain showers, the sun is finally shining in Zlin as the Zlin Film Festival hits the halfway mark of its 50th anniversary celebrations. Despite the unusually cool weather, the atmosphere has been warm at this popular and important film event, the oldest devoted to films for the children and youth market (although adults are more than welcome).   The Fest...

JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1955, Karel Zeman) The eyes of the film industry are pointing east this week as the Zlin Film Festival kicks off its 50th anniversary celebrations in the UNESCO heritage city in the Moravia district of eastern Czech Republic. A mix of filmmmakers, programmers, distributors, critics and journalists have come from Europe, North America, Asia and beyond to participate in this year's event, the largest devoted to children and youth cinema (with many ad...

  On the eve of the Zlin Film Festival, which kicks off its 50th anniversary celebrations on Sunday, May 30, I spoke with the very busy Petr Koliha, the Festival's Artistic Director. As the first major film event following Cannes, the Zlin Film Festival takes up the mantle of film appreciation, with a particular focus to film and media projects produced for the children and youth market. As all eyes turn east to the UNESCO heritage city of Zlin in eastern Czech Republic, Petr Koliha sha...

On the eve of the Zlin Film Festival, which kicks off its 50th anniversary celebrations on Sunday, May 30, I spoke with the very busy Petr Koliha, the Festival's Artistic Director. As the first major film event following Cannes, the Zlin Film Festival takes up the mantle of film appreciation, with a particular focus to film and media projects produced for the children and youth market. As all eyes turn east to the UNESCO heritage city of Zlin in eastern Czech Republic, Petr Koliha shares his tho...

20th edition of the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb dedicated to short animated films is held 1-6 June in Europa, Tuškanac and Movieplex cinemas. Throughout six festival days, more than 450 short animated films from 40 countries will be screened. Out of those, 128 films will compete in four competition programmes – Grand Competition, Student Competition, Special programme and Children’s Competition. In addition, the official programme will include three panoramas – Gr...

  With less than 2 weeks to go until the 50th anniversary celebrations begin for the ZLIN FILM FESTIVAL, the first major film  event following CANNES, the question I am hearing from associates is: where and what is Zlin? Well, let me answer that with some relevant information on a city both historic and modern. Zlin is a city situated in the southeastern Moravian district of what is now the Czech Republic. The city is a natural metropolis, a city of statues, a university seat and ...

  One of the oldest film festival events in Europe and the largest celebration of films specifically for the youth and young adult market, Film Festival Zlin marks a milestone 50th anniversary this year when it unspools from May 30 to June 6 in the cultural heritage Moravian city in eastern Czech Republic.    Petr Koliha, Artistic Director "We are expecing attendance at the Festival this year to be over one hundred thousand", Film Festival Zlin artistic d...

One of the oldest film festival events in Europe and the largest celebration of films specifically for the youth and young adult market, Film Festival Zlin marks a milestone 50th anniversary this year when it unspools from May 30 to June 6 in the cultural heritage Moravian city in eastern Czech Republic. "We are expecing attendance at the Festival this year to be over one hundred thousand", Film Festival Zlin artistic director Petr Koliha announced. "The 50th anniversary has already aroused much...

  AniFest 2010, the only international specialized competition animation festival in the Czech Republic announces that the festival´s 9th edition will take place in May 18 - 23, 2010 in the North Bohemian spa city of Teplice. After 8 years in Trebon the AniFest management decided to move the festival to Teplice, a larger, and both technically and logistically well equipped city. On top of that, more favorable conditions for holding such an international film event have bee...

The Berlinale, because of its history and Berlin's geographic location as the nexus between Western and Eastern Europe, has become an important place for Eastern European organizations to make announcements and for Eastern European films to be showcased. One of the oldest film festivals in Europe, Film Festival Zlin in the Czech Republic, will kick off its 50th anniversary celebration in Berlin on Tuesday evening, 16 February with a cocktail reception at the Czech Republic Embassy...

In the last three decades, Fantasporto brought to Portugal for the first time the films of such names as David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Andrzej Zulawski, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Neil Jordan, Jean-Jacques Beneix, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Sam Raimi, Brian Yuzna, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Anthony Minghella, Quentin Tarantino, Roberto Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, Paul Anderson, David Fincher, James Mango...

La 6e édition de Plein la Bobine se déroulera, du 13 au 19 juin 2008, à La Bourboule et au Mont-Dore, deux villes voisines du Massif du Sancy (Puy-de-Dôme). Les carnets de voyage seront cette année le fil rouge du festival, qui a, pour l'occasion, initié un partenariat avec la Biennale du Carnet de Voyage de Clermont-Ferrand.Plein la Bobine 2008 proposera également un coup de cœur au cinéma belge, une carte blanche au festival d’Oulu (The Oulu International Children’s Film Festival...

More than 100 films from 23 countries for the Festival of East European Cinema, which is being held from November 14 to 18. 1. Feature Film and Short Film Competitions – diverse and subtle Ten films from eight countries were nominated for the Feature Film Competition, of which nine will be having their international or German premiere in Cottbus. Bulgaria and Romania are particularly strongly represented here with two films each - which can be regarded as the undisputed proof for the new depa...

Going now to its 25th edition, Fantasporto has brought to Portugal for the first time the films of such names as David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Andrzej Zulawski, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Neil Jordan, Jean-Jacques Beneix, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Sam Raimi, Brian Yuzna, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Anthony Minghella, Quentin Tarantino, Roberto Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, Paul Anderson, David Fincher, James...