International Film Festival Trenčianske Teplice was formed as a reaction to the departure of Art Film Fest from the town of Trenčianske Teplice located near the country’s Western border. The festival, which received support from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic and the the city Trenčianske Teplice, will be held from 23 to 26 June 2016.
“A festival in Trenčianske Teplice has had a long history, dating back to 1993. The formative idea was to present films about art and artists. This concept has changed over the years, as Art Film Festival in Trenčianske Teplice introduced new sections and became less specialised, focusing on the first three films of young directors. Our idea is to recreate the basic tradition and show the audience forgotten films and authors of the film history,” festival co-founder Peter Hledík told FNE. Hledík was the founder of Art Film Fest, although he had taken a reduced role in the festival in recent years. Ľudmila Cviková, the former artistic director of Art Film Fest, is the artistic director of the new festival.
IFF TT will have special sections devoted to the films of Catherine Denevue and films by Ettore Scola, who died in January this year. The festival will also have a competitive section for student films, On the Road.
“Each section will be led by a film professional – a director, a scriptwriter, a director of photography, a music composer,“ said Hledík.
The festival will hold masterclasses, featuring the Latvian documentarist Audrius Stonys and the Rotterdam award winning Slovak director Mira Fornay. Chiara Mastroianni will receive Artist’s Mission award and Slovak scriptwriter Marek Leščák will receive the Golden Camera award.
The budget of IFF TT is 100,000 EUR and was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. Art Film Festival has a budget of 890,000 EUR, from which 150,000 EUR was given by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund.
The 24th Art Film Fest, which takes place 17-25 June 2016, will continue with its programme structure and include some new additions. A new section Be2Can Starter screens awarded films from Cannes, Venice and Berlinale, which will premiere for the first time in Slovakia.
“Another additional programme section Variety Critic’s Select presents feature films and we are cooperating with film journalists from magazine Variety,“ says the director of the festival, Peter Nágel. The remastered version of Martin Šulík’s first film Everything I Love will be screened publicly for the first time in 25 years and distributed to Slovak cinemas by GARFIELD FILM after the festival.
Art Film Festival will have thirteen film sections and five screening salles. The move to the city of Košice will allow the festival to expand into a city with more screening locations and a larger local public. A record 1,500 films applied to the competitive sections. Special awards will be given to actors Karel Roden and Lazar Ristovski, and British directors Alan Parker and Stephen Daldry.
