14/04/2015 - The 28th edition of Finále Plzeň will provide a comprehensive overview of last year’s domestic production

Schmitke by Štepán Altrichter is one of the films that will be screened at the festival

During the 28^th edition of the Finále Plzeň film festival (26 April–2 May), an entire week will be dedicated to screening all of the Czech fiction features made in 2014 as well as a selection of the country’s documentary productions from the same year. Czech and Slovakian fiction features and documentary films will be presented in the competition (12 fiction and 17 documentary titles) and out-of-competition sections, providing a detailed outline of last year’s movies. In addition, Czech involvement in international productions (such as Wiedersehen mit Brundibar, Ghoul [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Corn Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: George Ovashvili
film profile] and Life in a Fishbowl [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) will be on show in a separate section. A special programming slot is reserved for Slovakian cinema, combining fiction features and shorts, documentaries and animated films.

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“This year’s novelty is the splitting of the Czech and Slovakian television formats into the categories of cyclical and non-cyclical production,” explains the executive director of the festival, Eva Veruňková Košařová. The cyclical production competition welcomes selected episodes from popular Czech and Slovakian comedy and drama series, while the non-cyclical television section shines a spotlight on interesting projects such as My Uprising.sk, a Slovakian omnibus title about heroes emerging from among the common people during the Slovak National Uprising; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll, an episode from the television-film series Czech Century, which focuses on modern Czech history, directed by Robert Sedláček; and an episode entitled Traitor from another Czech film series, Innocent Lies, directed by Bohdan Sláma. 

Besides the traditional showcase and retrospectives, Finále Plzeň serves as a meeting point for professionals during the Industry Days (27-29 April). Two panel sessions will focus on a hot topic within the Czech audiovisual domain: namely, the expected arrival of Netflix next year and the possible impacts of this on the market and consumers. American screenwriter and producer Philip LaZebnik will hold a master class on writing for television and the distinction between US and Scandinavian television series. As in previous editions, the Czech Film Centre is organising the presentation of selected domestic film projects currently in development or in production. 

Plzeň is this year’s European Capital of Culture along with the Belgian city of Mons.