The Czech Film and Television Academy selected The Painted Bird as this year's Czech Oscar candidate. Czech-Ukrainian-Slovak drama written, directed and produced by Václav Marhoul, will represent the Czech Republic as the official submission for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Foreign Language Film category.

About the film

Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia 2019 / 169 min
Directed by: Václav Marhoul
Produced by: Václav Marhoul / Silver Screen (CZ)
Co-produced by: Directory Films (UA), PubRes (SK), Czech Television (CZ), Radio and Television Slovakia (SK), Jaroslav & Milada Kučerovi (CZ), Innogy (CZ), Richard Kaucký (CZ)
Cast: Petr Kotlár, Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgaard, Udo Kier, Julian Sands, Barry Pepper, Jitka Čvančarová... (full list)

The film follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies and the Boy is on his own, wandering through the country-side, from village to farmhouse. As he struggles for survival, The Boy suffers through extraordinary brutality meted out by the ignorant, superstitious peasants and he witnesses the terrifying violence of the efficient, ruthless soldiers, both Russian and German.

When the war ends, The Boy has been changed, forever.

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR

TRAILER

The film was supported by the Czech Film Fund in both development and production stages (with EUR 992,308) and also in the film incentives programme.

The Journey to Oscars

Václav Marhoul (Tobruk, 2008 and Smart Philip, 2003) worked on The Painted Bird, based on the eponymous novel by Jerzy Kosiński, for 11 years, and created a meticulous 35mm black and white evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of the World War II.

The film world-premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival in the main competition, Venezia 76. (READ MORE)

After that, The Painted Bird had its North American Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in Special Presentations. (READ MORE)

International Reviews

The Hollywood Reporter:
“There are moments in the black-and-white wasteland of devastated Eastern Europe that recall Soviet masterpieces of horror like Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev or Elem Klimov’s Come and See.”

The Guardian:
“I can state without hesitation that this is a monumental piece of work and one I’m deeply glad to have seen. I can also say that I hope to never cross its path again.”

Little White Lies:
“It’s tough to amply describe the film’s relentlessly brutal pleasures, but those who have seen films like Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood, Robert Bresson’s Mouchette or Elem Klimov’s Come and See might have an idea of the grim terrain we’re on here.”

Variety:
“Marhoul has stripped the text to its barest, tersest bones, wisely eschewing any voiceover and trusting in d.p. Vladimír Smutný’s expert camera to steer our point of view.”

Czech Film Center operates as a division of the Czech Film Fund

23rd Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (Baltic Sea Docs) was held in Latvia, 3 - 8 September 2019. During the Baltic Sea Docs, the pitching forum took place in Riga, presenting 25 documentary film projects to the panel of decision makers; the film programme was shown in the art house cinema K.Suns in Riga, as well as a selection of films screened in five regional towns (Cēsis, Jēkabpils, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Valmiera), but films from the previous Baltic Sea Docs editions were presented at online streaming platform Straume LMT.

126 films from across the world have made it to the Official Programme of the 26th Astra Film Festival, which will take place in Sibiu, between 14th and 20th October 2019.

This year's edition of the Festival of Slovenian Film runs from 17 to 22 September 2019 in Portorož, with screenings and events taking place in two venues: Avditorij Portorož and Monfort Cinema. After the festival, between Tuesday, 24 September, and Saturday, 28 September, the award-winning films will also be screened in the Komuna Cinema, Ljubljana. The line-up will be announced after the awards ceremony on 22 September. As already revealed, the 2019 Badjura Award goes to the filmmaker and sound composer Andrej Zdravič. To pay tribute to the laureate, the festival is showing a selection of 14 of his experimental works.

At the 22nd FSF press conference, the Festival Director Jelka Stergel outlined the structure of the line-up, emphasising the large share of world premieres. In terms of subject matter, “compared with last year, there has been an apparent shift from social drama to drama that is more political, verging even on political thriller”. Minority co-productions are represented very strongly in this edition, “which suggests that Slovenian producers are good at recognising films that deserve financial and creative support”. In the light of this trend, Stergel highlighted the industry programme as an increasingly vital pillar of the festival, its aim being to set up a platform for filmmakers to exchange their knowledge and experience and seek international partners for their ongoing or future projects.

The industry programme will span five days from Wednesday, 18 September, to Sunday, 22 September. Its main event is the Coproduction Meeting (CPRM) – In Focus: Italy, with a rundown of Italian institutions making up the funding network for film production and cultural exchange (MiBAC, ANICA, regional funds, the Italian Cultural Institute in Ljubljana, the Italian Trade Agency in Slovenia) and pitching sessions for selected projects in development and postproduction to further facilitate and promote co-productions between the two countries, after endeavours in the recent years have already started to bear fruit. The programme also features a series of workshops, lectures, and debates. Among these other events, Stergel drew attention to a pitching event organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Book Agency, in which editors and publishers will pitch, to an audience of film producers, notable literary works that lend themselves perfectly to adaptation for the screen. Inspired by Cannes’ Shoot the Book! and Berlin’s Books at Berlinale, the aim of the event is to encourage adaptations of books by Slovenian authors for the screen, and to join the efforts for 2022, when Slovenia is the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The festival will open with the premiere screening of Metod Pevec’ new feature I Am Frank. The host of the opening is Jure Longyka. Featuring an appearance by the popular local singer-songwriter Rudi Bučar, the ceremony will be followed by a reception in the Avditorij foyer.

The organisational aspects of the festival were presented by the 22nd FSF Project Manager Tjaša Smrekar. The screenings will take place in two venues, Avditorij Portorož and Monfort Cinema, connected by a minibus service. The Monfort Cinema is also the venue for daily post-screening socialising with a varied live-music line-up. Admission to Monfort screenings starting before 5 pm is free, subject to capacity, while tickets are required for screenings after 5 pm. Evening events are open to visitors with a festival pass or a ticket for any festival screening.

The festival will close on Sunday, 22 September at 19:30 with the awards ceremony hosted by three actors from last year’s award-winning film Consequences. Unlike previous years, the event will be broadcast live on TV Slovenia.

Over a little less than a week, the main Slovenian film event will provide a curated overview of the latest Slovenian cinema, which includes fiction, documentary and animated films of all lengths. A total of 157 films were submitted to the festival for consideration by the Programming Board, with 106 films making it into the official selection. Of this, the Official Competition includes 57 films: 11 feature-length films, 10 minority co-productions (8 feature-length and 2 short), 5 medium-length films, 19 short films, and 13 student films.