A DOCUMENTARY at high altitude.photo: Courtesy of K2 Studio
THE SIXTH year of the International Film Festival Bratislava will screen 12 Slovak movies, a surprisingly large number for the local film industry, which has long been dormant.
“The number of Slovak movies is exceptional,” festival programme director Peter Nágel said. “If it continues, we can stop fearing for the future of Slovak cinema.”
The local selection is led by the newest work of acclaimed documentary director Pavol Barabáš. Amazonia Vertical, which won the Best Expedition Film award at the International Mountain Film Festival in Poprad, follows climber Peter Ondrejovič, the first man to ascend Venezuela’s Ayuan Tepui mountain and the highest falls in the world, the Angel Falls.
The popular Radošinské naivné divadlo theatre and its plays are featured in four films - Jááánošííík, Raňajky v tráve (Luncheon on the Grass), Kronika komika (Comedian’s Chronicle), and Konečná stanica (The Final Station).
RADOŠINSKÉ comes to the big screen.photo: Courtesy of IFFB
The tragicomic Konečná stanica, one of the Radošinské theatre group’s most successful plays, is brought to the screen by Czech director Jiří Chlumský. It takes place in a small train station and stars members of the theatre group and Czech actors Josef Abrhám and Josef Somr. It opens the festival on December 3 and has English subtitles.
Also with English subtitles are Slovak films O dve slabiky pozadu (Two Syllables Behind), the film thesis of student Katarína Šulajová, and Prirodzená smrť (Natural Death) by Michal Krajňák.
Two Syllables Behind explores the life of a student who takes on too many things and accomplishes none of them. Natural Death is a black comedy about the difficulty of murdering an annoying wife.
