One of Art Film Fest’s most consistently popular components is the annual International Competition of Short Films. At the festival’s nineteenth edition, held from June 17 to 25 in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín, the section will feature an abundant assortment of fiction, documentary, experimental and animated films from professional and film-school studios around the world.
The selection of forty-four short films will include a number of pictures screened and awarded at prestigious international film festivals.
The work of a third-year student known as "Aramisova" from the Prague Academy of Performing Arts’ Film and TV School, "Cagey Tigers" is arriving straight from Cannes’ young-talent-focused Cinéfondation competition.
It tells the story of two best friends who fall in love with the same man. Will they remain faithful to their feelings, or put their friendship first?
This year’s section will also include the world premiere of "The Last Bus" (Posledný autobus) from Slovak filmmakers Martin Snopek and Ivana Laučíková. Snopek, known for his successful "Pik a Nik", and Laučíková, creator of the award-winning "Cheers!" (Nazdravíčko!), have combined their talents in this tale of woodland animals fleeing to safety from bloodthirsty hunters.
The section’s array of young Slovak filmmakers will continue with Peter Budinský’s "tWINs", an animated film depicting two conjoined twins who fight both in the ring and out. Together they struggle through their private and social lives, but each from a different perspective.
Award winners from this year’s Berlinale will also be represented.
The Chilean picture "The Shower" (La Ducha) looks at two girlfriends going their separate ways. Elisa has found a job abroad, and Manuela, who has lived with her for five years, decides that she isn’t coming with. After all, who will look after the cat? Set in a the confines of a small bathroom, the movements of their naked bodies, their touches, gestures, looks in the mirror, and the sound of the running shower uncover the sadness of this final farewell.
"The Unliving" (Återfödelsen), another Berlin laureate, is a Swedish film set in the midst of a thirty-year zombie epidemic. Coldly, mercilessly, and with a pragmatism that would be the envy of any other mammal, the humans lobotomize them and use what’s left as a cheap labour source. This warped, bloody and visually fascinating picture received the Berlinale’s nomination for an award from the European Film Academy.
Following his victory at last year’s Art Film Fest, English director Paul Wright will present his latest creation “Until the River Runs Red”, freshly bestowed with the prestigious British BAFTA award. The film’s sixteen-year-old Chloe is God’s only daughter, at least according to her parents, who bring her from place to place across remote, deserted expanses in search of the mystical “Red River”.
Art Film Fest 2011 – the 19th Trenčianske Teplice/Trenčín International Film Festival is made possible by the financial support of the Audiovisual Fund.
Organizers: ART FILM, n.o., FORZA, a.s.
Co-organizers: The Town of Trenčianske Teplice, Trenčianske Teplice Health Spa
General Sponsors: Omnia Holding SE, AquaCity Poprad
Main Sponsors: Tatra banka, Slovnaft, VUJE, OHL ŽS
Official Transport Provider: Lancia
Logistics Sponsor: DHL
Free student cinepasses provided by: Prvá stavebná sporiteľňa (First Housing-Construction Savings Bank)
Sponsors: TIPOS, Ernst & Young, AVI studio, Penzión Baske, Cinemax, Santovka
Official Suppliers: Pilsner Urquell, HUBERT J.E., Hotel Pax – the festival spa hotel, A Briliant, Esterle&Esterle, MF team, LampART, Lenovo, Stredná odborná škola polygrafická (Vocational School of Printing)
Main Media Sponsors: Slovenská televízia, televízia JOJ, Rádio FM, Pravda,
Media Sponsors: Central Europe Television, Kino CS, Muzika CS, Doku CS, Rádio Europa 2, Rádio Hit FM, .týždeň, Eurotelevízia, Pardon, OK!, Kinečko, Kam do mesta, Focus, Boomerang Media, SITA, moviemania.sk, BlueSky, Televízia Trenčianske Teplice, euroAWK, Willmark
Partners: The City of Trenčín, the Trenčín Self-governing Region, the Embassy of Israel in Slovakia, the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, the Embassy of the USA in Bratislava, the Office of the Embassy of Sweden in Bratislava, Sodec Quebec, the Slovak Film Institute, Cinecitta, the Italian Cultural Institute in Bratislava, Omnia, RONA, Celtima SK, jazykovepobyty.sk, Hotel Flóra, versity
