We Are Starting the Festival on Children's Day

Today, at a press conference in the Small Hall of the Congress Centre in Zlín, we presented to journalists this year's theme and the planned form of its 63rd year. In its programme, the festival will once again focus on connecting generations, but also on the celebration of Czechoslovak animation and Scandinavian web series for young people. But there are many other topics ahead of us.

This year, the sixty-third year of our film festival will bring the residents and visitors of the city of Zlín a varied film program from various corners of the world and a number of accompanying activities aimed at strengthening and developing relationships between parents, children, and grandparents.

“Our aim is to showcase the best of world productions for children and young people and to offer an alternative to commonly available audiovisual content. At the same time, we want to educate, raise awareness of the world around us, and open and subsequently discuss current topics,”

said Čestmír Vančura, President of the Zlín Film Festival.

The form of this year's festival has already been indicated by the festival title sequence from the workshop of Michal Baránek and Zdeněk Macháček, who is also the author of this visual. Its musical accompaniment was created by Filip Vojtěch with a modern remix of the original fanfare that has accompanied the Zlín festival for decades.

"The festival will be colorful, playful, multilayered. The festival wants to interest and further attract the young generation of teens to the festival events,”

outlined the Executive Director of the ZFF Jarmila Záhorová and added that, among other things, a special video for teachers with Jan Čenský was created as part of the preparations.

"We believe that with its help teachers and their students will enjoy the cinema even more during the festival."

An integral part of the festival program is the Clapperboard Salon, whose 26th year will begin on March 7 with a vernissage at the Hybernia Theatre in Prague. From Prague, it will go to Liberec-Vratislav, Mladá Boleslav, Olomouc, Brno, and Zlín, where it will culminate in a traditional auction on Sunday, June 4 at the Zlín Congress Centre.

Another significant supporting event is the 8th annual Festival MONET+ Zlín Half Marathon 2023, which is the largest traditional running event in the Zlín Region. It starts on Sunday, June 4 at 10 a.m. from the Congress Centre. At 3 pm, the main race will be followed by the RPB family run.

As in previous years, in addition to traditional screenings of competition and other films, the festival will also include a rich supporting program at a number of places in Zlín, which will provide entertainment, education, and opportunities for the whole family to spend meaningful free time together.

For the seventh time, the festival will officially close with Mikulov Echoes of the Zlín Film Festival. They are scheduled to take place this year from June 13 to 15, 2023.