25. 4. 2019

Is It Really Fun to be a Student and Make Films?

I ask myself this question every year during the screenings of hundreds of films that film and art school students produce every season. I can really say without hesitation that this year was the most productive of them. Almost 1,400 student projects have entered the international competition of student films titled Zlín Dog.

In terms of topics, it is not possible to characterize unambiguous tendencies in student cinema. Every aspiring filmmaker wants to be distinctive, everyone wants to treat their topics in the most original way. But what I could point out as an annual trend is the low number of films presented with some exaggeration or humour. Perhaps only animated films break this rule, in which the authors can afford to drive their characters to the extreme, (Muteum, Where I Was Born Here, A Cup of Tea in the Rainy Weather), humanize them (Pizza Party, The Survival of the Sexiest, EVOL), or with hyperbole show their passions and obsessions (the Belgian Pétanque 51, the Polish A Degvil and a Rascat, the Czech representative Hopus). I appreciate the animators who are not afraid of going for the more laborious and lengthy stop motion technique. In this year's "dog" animation section, you will find five such films including the longest animation in the whole competition, the Czech representative The Incredible Wardrobegadget of Dr. Stein.

In comparison with the large number of submitted animated films, student documentary film is lagging behind. That is why there will only be one screening of documentaries in this year’s competition on May 24 at 4 pm at Golden Apple Cinema Hall 4. Six contestants for the Best Student Documentary deal with drudgery and drill in gymnastics (All That Grows) or mothers who regularly leave their families to earn better money outside the country ((In)visible Worlds). For filmmakers in this section, transsexuality (Ma'MaQueen) or suicide (Apart) are not taboo. On the lighter side, students of Tomas Bata University show us the hidden life of theatre technicians (The Technique of Everyday Life).

I am pleased by the large number of delegations who arrive for the Zlín Dog every year. This year’s guests will include guests from Russia, China, Great Britain, Spain or Serbia. Journeys and travelling, which are also closely linked to this year's theme of the festival Discover & Explore, are also a focus of young filmmakers. In the section of student films, the films that deal with this topic include Last Call, Dog Days of Summer or Provence. Family crises are dealt with in Elephant in the Room, The Inner Side, or BON APPÉTIT. Genre exceptions in the student feature film competition include the horror Follower, the comedies Why So Sirius? and 8:27.

Not only emerging filmmakers are worried about limited budgets and not enough time for production. Obviously this is one of the main reasons for the fact that filmmakers prefer to choose more serious impressions. I am glad that the FILMTALENT ZLÍN Endowment Fund is with its financial „injections“ helping them to solve this dilemma. This year's competition for financial support will take place in the Small Hall of the Congress Centre on Tuesday May 28 from 2 pm. Last year, the festival helped a number of films and some of them managed to make it into this year's competition (the feature film Cherries, the animated The Incredible Wardrobegadget of Dr. Stein and the anidoc Apart).

It is not easy to make good comedy. Such is my long-term impression from watching student films. I would therefore like to end with an appeal to the students of film schools. Make films, but do not forget about genre diversity. It is a challenge worth thinking about, especially today.

I wish you a lot of fun discovering and exploring this year’s Zlín Dog films.
Kateřina Fojtová, programmer

List of live-action short films:

Provence, 2018, Belgium, dir: Kato De Boeck

8:27, 2018, Germany, dir: Matthias Kreter

Dog Days of Summer, 2019, Serbia, dir: Nikola Stojanovic

Cowboy Joe, 2018, USA, dir: Jingjing Tian

Last Call, 2018, Hungary, dir: Hajni Kis

Terror, 2018, Israel, dir: Yonatan Shehoah

Silvia in the Waves, 2018, Canada, dir: Giovana Olmos

Sons of No One, 2017, Belgium, dir: Hans Vannetelbosch

Cherries, 2019, Czech Republic/Slovakia, dir: Katarína Gramatová

The Inner Side, 2018, Israel, dir: Danel Elpeleg

Nowhere Yet, 2017, United Kingdom, dir: Gabriel Bagnaschi

Elephant in the Room, 2018, Switzerland, dir: Chanelle Eidenbenz

Follower, 2018, Germany, dir: Jonathan Behr

Why So Sirius?, 2018, Czech Republic, dir: Karel Šindelář

Fernanda´s Spring, 2018, Brazil, dir: Débora Zanatta, Estevan de la Fuente

BON APPÉTIT, 2018, Switzerland, dir: Alan Sahin

Fireworks, 2019, China, dir: Yichao Fu

Recruit, 2019, Russia, dir: Igor Tsoy

List of short animated films:

Lifting Mr Burden, 2018, France, dir: Rayan Ghossein, Jake Zetter, Chedi Ayari

Memorial, 2017, Thailand, dir: Natchapat a Natthawat Jamtaksa

Dear Son, Belgium, dir: Aagje Van Damme

I Wish…, 2018, Spain, dir: Victor L. Pinel

After the Rain, 2018, France, dir: Valérian Desterne, Rebecca Black, Céline Collin, Juan Olarte, Juan Pablo De La Rosa Zalamea, Carlos Osmar Salazar Tornero, Lucile Palomino

Out of Service, 2018, United Kingdom, režie: Carwyn Leung

Bear with Me, 2018, France, dir: Clotilde Chivot, Camille Heng, Caroline Marcon, Justine Mettler, Marianne Reine, Tiphaine Vergriete

Off Season, 2018, Hungary, dir: Láng Orsolya

Pizza Party, 2019, Germany, dir: Max Holicki, Áron Farkas, Stefan Kreller

The Incredible Wardrobegadget of Dr. Stein, 2019, Czech Republic, dir: Gabriela Plačková

Pétanque 51, 2018, Belgium, dir: Théo Guyot

Moth, 2018, United Kingdom, dir: Ewa Łuczków

7.18.25, 2018, Singapour, dir: Phoebe Ting, Jolene Tan, Minhao Hu

Journey, 2018, Slovakia, dir: Marek Jasaň

EVOL, 2018, France, dir: Kayu Leung

A Cup of Tea in the Rainy Weather, 2018, Georgia, dir: Petre Tomadze

Black Bread, 2018, France, dir: Adrien Bourcier, Louise Duveau, Charlotte Thiriez, Rémi Fumery, Justin Lauridant, Massimo Partipilo, Clément Sagnier, Mariane Vanhoed

A Degvil and a Rascat, 2018, Poland, dir: Weronika Szyma

The Survival of the Sexiest, 2018, Spain, dir: Anna Melnikova, Shirel Lebovich, Marina Cortón

Nö!, 2018, Germany, dir: Christian Kaufmann

Inanimate, 2018, United Kingdom, dir: Lucia Bulgheroni

Hopus, 2019, Czech Republic, dir: Lucie Kokoliová

Muteum, 2017, Estonia, dir: Äggie Pak Yee Lee

Les lèvres gercées, 2018, France, dir: Fabien Corre, Kelsi Phung

Where I Was Born, 2018, USA, dir: Jungmin Cha

Whispering Onion, 2018, United Kingdom, dir: Akari Hiraoka

The Stained Club, 2018, France, dir: Mélanie Lopez, Simon Boucly, Marie Ciesielski, Alice Jaunet, Chan Stéphie Peang, Béatrice Viguier

Tango of Longing, 2018, Poland, dir: Marta Szymanska

Hide N Seek, 2019, Czech Republic, dir: Barbora Halířová