For instance the Israeli film Ajami (d. S. Copti, Y. Shani, 2009), nominated for last year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the European Film Award for Discovery of the Year, and winner of Cannes’ Caméra d’Or. The film vividly captures several intertwined storylines and lives in the suburb of Ajami, marked by constant tension and dangerously powerful prejudices between Jews and Palestinians.
Eye Over Prague (2010), the latest release form Czech documentarist Olga Špátová , depicts the extraordinary but tragic fate of world-renowned architect Jan Kaplický. The
film exposes the absurd drama surrounding the unfinished “Chobotnice” (Octopus) project – a new building of the National Library in Prague. But it also includes the architect’s newfound love. The best Spanish film of last year, Cell 211 (d. D. Monzón, 2009), tells of a dramatic encounter between two separate worlds – that of prisoners and that of wardens, but also of the accumulation of power and its excessive use. The picture has won a wide variety of awards, and among its sixteen nominations for the Spanish national Goya Awards it ended up winning eight, such as those for Best Film, Screenplay and Actor.
The Shock Doctrine (2009) from directors Mat Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom 
presents itself as a documentary that may alter audiences’ view of history. The filmmakers proceeded from Canadian author Naomi Klein’s bestseller of the same name, which explores the roots of capitalism’s ongoing global collapse and presents an unrestricted view of the connections between the crisis, governments and major corporations in problematic countries. Whereas distinguished director Lucy Walker’s documentary Waste Land (2009) examines prominent Brazilian artist Vik Muniz’s photography of people who live off of and recycle the rubbish of the world’s largest dump in Rio de Janiero. The picture won the Audience Award at Sundance, along with the Amnesty International Film Prize and Panorama Audience Award at the Berlinale.
In addition to those mentioned here, Art Film Fest’s visitors can look forward to the latest films from Francois Ozon, Goran Paskaljevič, Roman Polanski, Detlev Buck, Sylvain Chomet and Hans Petter Moland.
Photographs can be found at artfilmfest.sk in the Press section. The Art Film Fest International Film Festival Trenčianske Teplice/Trenčín is made possible through the financial support of the Audiovisual Fund and the European Union Programme MEDIA. Organizers: ART FILM, n. o., Forza, a. s. Co-organizers: the Town of Trenčianske Teplice, the City of Trenčín, the Trenčianske Teplice Health Spa General Sponsors: Dôvera Medical Insurance, AquaCity Poprad Main Sponsors: Tatra banka, Slovnaft, Veolia Voda – Central Slovakian Waterworks, OHL ŽS, Alison Slovakia; Official Transport Provider: Lancia Logistics Sponsor: DHL; Free student cinepasses provided by: Prvá stavebná sporiteľňa (First Housing-Construction Savings Bank) Sponsor of the Slovak Season section: Zlatý Bažant; Sponsors: AVI Studio, Baske Guest House, Park Hotel na Baračke Official Suppliers: HUBERT J.E., Kláštorná, GS design, Philips
Media Sponsors: Slovak Television, Markíza Television, FilmBox, CSTV, Central Europe Television, Rádio Europa 2, Rádio Hit FM, Pravda, .týždeň, Markíza, Pardon, Cinemax, Kam do mesta, zoznam.sk, Boomerang Media, SITA, euroAWK, superobed.sk
