„CZECH FILM EXPERIMENT – TWO, ZERO, TWO, TWO“ Times of change, historical and political turmoil, pandemics, scientific discoveries, experiments, and adventures – are all topics that the newest Czech documentaries explore and the reason why we chose the Czech Republic as our Country in Focus. An interesting fact is that the Czech National Television has the highest production share in these documentaries, which shows an ongoing interest in presenting these social problems and events to the public. This year we chose eight feature-long and several short documentaries, animated films, and animated documentaries representative of the newest Czech documentary scene. Our aim is to bring closer to the MakeDox audience the atmosphere and the topics that interest the authors of these films, their way of work, the relationship with their protagonists, and the development of the initial idea into a complete film. Primarily for this reason, we are honored to have the Czech Republic as a Country in Focus this year, starting the program with one of the most significant Czech documentary directors, also called “the mother of the time-lapse documentary film,” and that is the director Helena Třeštíková. As a festival, MakeDox has followed her work since the very beginning. We are thrilled we managed to arrange a live meeting with her this year at MakeDox, where she will also hold a masterclass and share the secret of how she films her documentaries, which can sometimes last for twenty years. This year we will open the Country in Focus program with her film René - The Prisoner of Freedom, followed by other Czech documentaries from the newest documentary
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COUNTRY IN FOCUS: CZECH REPUBLIC
production and Czech student films made under FAMU’s mentorship. In the Kids and Youth program, we will also screen several animated films and animated documentaries. As part of Country in Focus, we will see the feature-length documentaries Chickens, Virus and Us by director Filip Remundа, Living Water by director Pavel Borecký, Brotherhood by director Francesco Montagner, My Unknown Soldier by director Anna Kryvenko, Doggy Love by director Linda Kallistová Jablonská, and Kapr Code by director Lucie Králová. From the short and student films we will screen I Am Trying to Remember by the director Pegah Ahangarani – film from IranianCzech production, and the award-winning student film Love Dad by the director Diana Cam Van Nguyen. As part of the MakeDox Kids and Youth program this year, we are honored to screen around ten short animated films and animated documentaries and thus bring this scene, which develops experimentally under FAMU’s mentorship, closer to the audience. We hope that with this year’s program and the presence of the authors of some of these films, we’ll satisfy the tastes and curiosity of the biggest cinema lovers. “The Czech film experiment – two, zero, two, two” starts soon, so open your eyes and brace yourselves… It’s going to be interesting!
COUNTRY IN FOCUS: CZECH REPUBLIC
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