One of Art Film Fest’s biggest crowd-pleasers is the yearly International Competition of Short Films. At the 20th Art Film Fest, running from 16 to 23 June in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín, the competition will feature a prolific collection of 37 films from around the world, including fiction, documentary, experimental and animated pictures, from professional studios and film students alike. The victor will be awarded with a Blue Angel.
One of the section’s most anticipated films is English director Grant Orchard’s Oscar-nominated A Morning Stroll, recipient of prizes at Sundance and the BAFTA Awards for best animated short. The story is set in New York City, where a local on a morning stroll passes a chicken. Audiences are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
Another Oscar nominee, the Norwegian Tuba Atlantic, tells of a 70-year-old who learns that his death is only six days away. Will he manage to fulfil his dreams before hi final deadline?
Art Film Fest’s competition will also feature a project by Oscar and Palme d’Or laureate Danis Tanović: Baggage, whose protagonist Amir returns home to Bosnia to collect the remains of his parents, whose bodies were long missing after they were murdered during the war. This short film marks the director’s return to his homeland’s harrowing, bloodstained past.
The Italian picture The Chief joins the fray decorated with the Grand Prix from Clermont-Ferrand, the world’s most prestigious short film festival. Set in a marble quarry, the film observes the work of men and machines, all coordinated by the chief using nothing but gestures. Conducting an orchestra both fearsome and sublime, his work is as delicate and beautiful as it is dangerous.
In the Finnish All Hallows’ Week, a senseless shooting is witnessed by Aki, a bouncer, and Kati, the victim’s own teenage sister. The two emotionally brittle eyewitnesses are left to work through their inner anguish alone. With this film about the effects of random violence on the inhabitants of his northern Finland hometown, director Jussi Hiltunen earned several awards at the distinguished Tampere International Short Film Festival.
The Canadian It is Nothing is equally tragic, focusing on the single father Michel and his little daughter. Director Nicolas Roy has created an impressively precise, emotionally powerful short about familial problems gone unnoticed until they come to fateful fruition. The film was premiered at Cannes.
Speaking of fate, the fainthearted heroes of Poland’s Frozen Stories are on a search for life’s meaning. When two supermarket workers are named its worst employees, their boss gives them two days to find their purpose in life. To their aid comes the popular television show “Unhappiest Person of the Month”.
Art Film Fest 2012 – the 20th International Trenčianske Teplice/Trenčín Film Festival
The festival is held under the auspices of Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico.
Organizers: ART FILM, n.o., FORZA, a.s.
Co-organizers: The Town of Trenčianske Teplice, the City of Trenčín, Kúpele Trenčianske Teplice
Financial Support: The Audiovisual Fund
General Sponsors: KOOPERATIVA poisťovňa Vienna Insurance Group, Privatbanka
Main Sponsors: Omnia Holding SE, Slovnaft, AquaCity Poprad, Hydrotour Travel Agency
Official Transport Provider: Lancia
Logistics Sponsor: DHL
Student cinepasses for only €5 provided by Prvá stavebná sporiteľňa, a. s.
Sponsors: TIPOS, Slovak Telekom, Penzión Baske, Cinemax, Forza CZ, Omnia Motors, Omnia 2000, DOMO Omnia, Omnia KLF
