ZLÍN FILM FESTIVAL GOES TO THE BERLINALE
The head of ZLÍN FILM FESTIVAL's programming department will be taking part at the Berlinale film festival February 7-12. Both program director Markéta Pášmová and senior programmer Jaroslava Hynštová are heading to the capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany. Awaiting these ZFF representatives are primarily a series of meetings at the European Film Market (EFM), which is a traditional part of one of the world's most significant film festivals.
The Berlin film festival holds a major place in the calendar where ZFF's program department is concerned. It's in Berlin that these Zlín natives are able to obtain films for their own program that have had their world premieres at the Berlinale. The task of the ZFF programming department is to negotiate with the producers and sales agents on the possibility of showing these and other films in Zlín.
"The European film market is a ‘fair trade’ trade fair," explains program director Markéta Pášmová, and adds: "Producers and sales agents are simply businessmen for whom profits are a priority. Our goal here is to obtain the most acceptable terms and conditions from them for their movies." According to the chief of programming, ZFF pays roughly a million Czech crowns (about $50,000 USD or €36,000 EUR) for the right to screen films at the festival each year.
In addition, Jaroslava Hynštová says, "We're going to spend hectic days in Berlin; there are really a lot of scheduled meetings. Although we have received invitations for several informal evening meetings and parties from foreign colleagues, we'll apparently be so tired that we won't be able to enjoy them."