History of the International Student Film Festival in Písek

A year after married couple Vladana and Miloň Terč founded the Independent Film College in Písek they organized the very first annual International Student Film Festival in cooperation with the city of Písek and with contributions from Písek patriots.

Over the years of its duration the festival underwent a consistent progression. From 1998 it began functioning as a biennale. Gradually the spectrum of films grew as well as festival hosts and visitors. Film projections were enhanced by accompanying programs - photo and art exhibitions, workshops and seminaries. The festival also changed its location a few times. During its first year it took place in the Theater of Fráňa Šrámek and subsequently in the movie theater Portyč. After the floods of 2002 the festival had to be relocated. This time to the Discokomplex Jih. The festival returned to the movie theater Portyč after its reconstruction and this anniversary year it will serve as the center of festive activities as well.

With every other year the numbers of represented countries grow. Organizers have even managed to overcome the barriers of South America and attain a film collection from Brazil for the first time in the history of the Czech Republic. One of the most attractive aspects for festival visitors are foreign hosts and members of the international jury. Many familiar celebrities have been seated in the student festival's jury. For example director, camera operator, diver, traveller and adventurer Steve "Loveček" Lichtag, further Argentinean director Emiliano Romeo, Canadian director Martin Fazeli, the principle of the Summer Film School Jiří Králík, French director and scriptwriter Francois Gérard, Russian animator and artist Ivan Maximov and Slovakian documentarist Martin Slivka. A recurrent host of the festival is Roland Biernaux, the founder of ACJ - the organization for the upbringing of youth with film in Belgium.

Last year's festival expanded to the Cultural house, the Theater Below the Line and various exteriors in Písek. About 60 of the best films from the 110 that were registered were admitted into the festival's contest. This is why we are excited on seeing the clips that will be written into the festival's next capitol entitled with number 10.

About our festival

The 11th International Student Film Festival in Písek will take place from 6. - 9.10.2011. So once again this city shall become the epicenter of a festival that reaches far beyond the boundaries of the Czech Republic. This year’s festival will surely touch many hearts which is also indicated by the festival’s theme “We love film”.

The festival’s main goal is to prepare and offer viewers a remarkable competitive program that will be the platform for confrontation between student films of all genres (up to 30 minutes). The traditional participants of the festival have been addressed for this purpose. During the 10th ISFF, films from 21 countries competed in the festival. We have been able to establish partnerships with a number of schools from these countries such as in the Dominican Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Israel, the United States of America, Uruguay and so on. The festival is not open only for its own purposes but includes the general public in festival events as well. Its goal does not lie simply in the practicality of including students from our schools in preparing the festival but also in the fulfilling the meaning of the word “international”. The ISFF Písek offers visitors and filmmakers alike an opportunity to become acquainted with films of various cultures, each having its own distinct perspective. The festival is open to all countries and their beginner filmmakers who, like us, love film and want to share their work with us.

The International Student Film Festival in Písek is an important cultural event within the bounds of the region as well. We are honored that it is perceived as such and so once again it will be accompanied by workshops, concerts, discussions and exhibitions. The program is forthcoming not only to the festival’s public, which is specific in its own way. It also includes students of Písek and South Bohemian schools and a wide audience of all social and age categories from children to seniors. They too have received our festival positively. It is those visitors “born early” who frequently take part in festival events as well as in our festival “echoes”. They have requested for a possibility of borrowing or repeating a projection of festival films numerous times.

We would like to increase the number of participating countries in the section of handicapped filmmakers during our 11th festival year. They have given the festival a new aspect and unexpectedly caught the interest of the general public.

From the selection of workshops, which are traditionally focused on actual trends in global audiovisual production connected with an educational component, we will explore a trend in introducing media education into school guidelines. This workshop is not only intended for the general public but most of all for professors and students. It will be lead by a Czech specialist on this topic PhDr. et ThDr. Radek Mezuláník, Ph.D. Other workshops will be lead by professional photographer Dakar Petr Lusk and cinematographer Jaromír Šedina, who was a cooworker of the world famous Mexican director Guillerma del Toro. He will talk about his intensive collaboration with foreign film crews. These workshops are designed to be interactive, connected with presentations and demonstrations taken from productions of both specialists. An important part of the accompanying program will be the projection of a classic film from the silent era “Pandora's Box” (Die Büchse der Pandora, 1929) by G.W. Pabsta. Austrian Gerhard Grubner who specializes in the art of musically accompanying silent films will exclusively accompany this film on piano.

We currently have information about who will be sitting in our jury this year, whose prestige, in a way, influences the “shine” of festival awards. As a part of festival tradition, the winner of last years Grand Prix – young Finnish director Oskari Sipola has promised to attend. This also holds true for the bearer of many significant film awards David Ondříček, Belgian actor and producer Eric da Costa, renowned British educator and juror Carol Poole from Edge Hill University and French film producer and great-grandson of the world’s most substantial pioneer in film, Auguste Lumi?re, Didier Trarieux- Lumi?re. He too will exclusively present his rare family photos during his presentation.

The biggest news of this year is that we are adding one extra day to our festival. We named this day „factory day“. The word factory simply specifies the place where the program will play out but not what the program is about. Thursday will be dedicated to the presentations of Písek art groups who reside in an old textil factory- Jitex. Thanks to these young artists, the factory has found a new use. The dance groug ZIP, who won the titul of World Champions not too long ago, has it's reherseal room here for example. The company game4factory established by a dancer from the renowned group UNO can also be found here. This company has reshaped the industrial compound into a place of art with dance, projection and musical halls. In the scope of this vast project, not even the smaller things are forgotten- creative workshops, dance halls, reherseals and gaming clubs. Not too long ago, 4 of the most modern climbing walls in the republic have been opened here. We have decided to offer visitors of all ages a chance to explore these places and choose from the rich selection of programs offered by our festival.

So we hope that our rich supply of programs and accompanying events will be an attractive enough invitation for visiting our festival.

Aktuality

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