Interview with Martin Šmatlák, Director of the Slovak Audiovisual Fund
Read more
Slovakia
FNE Visegrad Country Profile: SlovakiaBRATISLAVA: Slovakia has seen a significant increase in the number of premieres in 2011, particularly in the second half of the year, accompanied by far-reaching international interest in the high quality of product coming from Slovak directors and producers. The leap forward is a direct result of a new national funding system launched just two years ago. While in 2010 only nine Slovakia-produced or coproduced films, including one feature film (Flying Cyprian by Marianna Čengel-Solčanská) premiered in cinemas, 11 Slovak movies have been released this year, while another 17 are expected to premiere between October and December 2011. Moreover, the 2011 crop of Slovak films are achieving success abroad, both in cinema release and at festivals. Among the most international visible releases of 2011 are Martin Šulík's Gypsy, a €1,000,000 Czech-Slovak coproduction from the director's own company Titanic, Slovak Television (www.stv.sk) and In Film (www.infilm.cz), and the feature-length documentary Nicky's Family directed by Matej Mináč and produced by Patrik Pass of Trigon Productions (www.trigon-production.sk).
FNE 2011 Visegrad Special: Slovak CoproductionsBRATISLAVA: Slovak producers usually prefer to
coproduce with partners in the Visegrad region.
The Czech Republic has always been the most important coproduction
country for Slovak filmmakers, followed
by Poland and Hungary. This year was no exception, with Czech-Slovak
coproductions accounting for eight of the 11 Slovak films released since the
beginning of 2011. Among them was Gypsy, a €1,000,000 drama by Martin Šulík about a young Roma man who finds himself in a conflict with racial, social, and cultural prejudice and the unwritten laws of his own Roma community, which eventually drive him to a fatal action - the murder of a man. Coproduced by the director's own company Titanic, Slovak Television (www.stv.sk) and the Czech Republic's In Film (www.infilm.cz) owned by Slovak producer Rudolf Biermann, the film has already received several prizes in Europe and has been nominated as Slovakia's entry for the Academy Award as Best Foreign-Language Film. READ MORE >>>FNE at DISCOP Budapest 2011: SlovakiaBRATISLAVA: While locally produced content enjoys comparatively high viewership in Slovakia, domestic TV channels’ foreign sales and cross-border coproduction activities are still in their infancy, with neighbouring Czech Republic holding its position as Slovakia’s most important partner. But signs of expansion into the international arena are beginning to appear. Surprisingly, public service broadcaster Slovak Television (STV, www.stv.sk), part of the newly-created Radio and Television of Slovakia (www.rtvs.sk), appears to be more successful in selling its programmes abroad than commercial stations. "The most sought after programmes are our fairy-tales and cartoons," STV spokesperson Lucia Habancová told FNE. Among the public broadcaster's recently sold programmes are a 1987 Czechoslovak-German children's film The Peacock's Feather (Pávie pierko), a 2000 TV drama Small Town Fragments (Frangmenty z malomesta), and Legends 60 (Legendy 60), a 2008 co-production documentary on the Slovak Beat generation of the 1960's. Visegrad 2010 special Slovak Overview The most important development in Slovak cinema in 2010 was the advent of financial support through the new Slovak Audiovisual Fund which began to process grant applications. In the first round, there were 190 applications for funding support of almost 5.5 million EUR, out of which just over 3.3 million EUR went to production. A second round of grants will be awarded by the end of 2010. During the first six months Slovakia saw a decline in the number of completed films. Only one Slovak fiction feature film premiered: Flying Cyprian (http://www.lietajucicyprian.sk/) by VŠMU graduate Marianna Čengel-Solčanská. The story is based on a legend of an 18th Century monk who became famous thanks to his herb collection. According to the legend, he created a set of wings and took off with them to be never seen again. FNE VISEGRAD SPECIAL : Coproductions in Slovakia 2010 The year 2010 has seen a major slowdown in production in general, compared to 2009. This was partly anticipated because of the gap caused by the closing of Audiovizia program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (www.culture.state.gov) and the launch of the new Audiovisual Fund (www.avf.sk). Applications for financial support of production were for the last submitted in 2008 and the first financial contributions from the Audiovisual Fund were released in spring 2010.
FNE VISEGRAD FORUM: Slovakia transitions from Audiovisual program to Audiovisual Fund In 2009 the Slovak film industry saw one of its most relevant transitions: the creation of an independent audiovisual funding body. FNE VISEGRAD FORUM: Slovak film and the global financial crisis While commercial Slovak television, led by CME's Markiza TV, has seen a dramatic downturn in advertising revenues due to the global economic crisis, the Slovak film industry has so far been unaffected. |
|
To read the news in Polish language click here
To read the news in Hungarian language click here
