List of author's articles, page 2
Mission accomplished
A book review
Art Film Fest breaks records, again
MORE than 38,000 visitors, 400 international guests and 175 journalists: these are the outstanding figures that marked the 18th – and so far most successful – edition of Slovakia’s second largest film event, Art Film Fest, held in Trenčín and Trenčianske Teplice between June 18 and 26.
Slovaks still prefer English to French
WITH only around 2.1 percent of Slovaks speaking French compared to 32 percent speaking English, according to a recent Eurobarometer survey by the European Commission, the language of Moliere remains a rarity rather than the norm on Slovak CVs. However, a coin has two sides, and an apparent disadvantage can be a valuable asset, French teachers and diplomats agree.
Will Slovakia's oldest cinema close?
FOLLOWING the demolition of Kino Hviezda in 2008, the closure of the nearby Kino Tatra the same year, and the recent demise of the three-screen Charlie Centrum – shut until further notice due to a rental dispute – Kino Mladosť remains the last traditional cinema in Bratislava’s city centre. Now its existence is threatened as it has been included in a list of property for sale recently published on the city’s official website. It is the city’s second attempt to sell it: a proposed sale three years ago was cancelled after provoking uproar among residents and the media.
Stronger than a volcano
THE EYJAFJALLAJOKULL volcano had a peculiar birthday gift for the 20th Central European Music Festival (CEMF). Had it not been for the participants’ strong will and professionalism, the ash cloud, though impressive, would probably have ruined the event.
Docs, docs and more docs
ORGANISING a film festival is not necessarily a question of a multimillion-euro budget and years of experience. A few months ago, a group of people from Košice in their early twenties decided among themselves that the Slovak filmmaking scene needed stirring up. Now, some of the best-known local directors are heading to the eastern metropolis to take part in the country’s first documentary film festival, which takes place between April 28 and 30.
Passion from beer mugs
DRINKING beer is not a bed of roses, says Oleg Šuk, this year’s winner of the Golden Keg beer humour award, awarded to cartoonists on April Fools’ Day for 16 years now. His winning drawing, portraying a man bearing a cross made of beer mugs, was selected from among hundreds of works by artists from all over the world, and his success means the prize returns to Slovak hands after nine years of exclusively foreign laureates.
From chocolate to Hiroshima
ONLY a few days after the whole world celebrated the 40th anniversary of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, Slovakia, as one of its observer states, continues to show that French culture is still among the best known and most admired ones among Slovaks, this time with a series of events organised by the Alliance Française (AFK) within the French Culture Days in Košice.
Culture gets new homes in Košice
IF YOU have ever walked around the housing blocks found in any Slovak town, you may have noticed some mysterious cube-shaped grey buildings with narrow windows. Purpose-built to house heat exchangers, they are now mostly abandoned as the original bulky machines have been replaced by smaller devices. But the city of Košice has decided to take advantage of these spaces to promote another kind of exchange, namely the cultural variety. The process began recently with the opening of the first of a group of such cultural mini-venues.
Reshaping the wor(l)d
DO YOU BELIEVE that visual arts and literature cannot be combined? If so, check out the new exhibition by French artist Armelle Caron that has recently been brought to Košice by the local branch of Alliance Française (AFK).
Foxes steal the show
ALŽBETA, a Slovak girl in her early twenties, desperately seeks a new life in Dublin where she wants to work as au-pair. Too proud and jealous, she constantly refuses any help from her older sister Tina, who is engaged to a local, Steve. Only after the two sisters decide to discuss a long-buried secret can their relationship finally be restored.
A bridge towards Roma inclusion
WALKING across Bratislava’s New Bridge instead of driving over it by car can sometimes turn out to be much more enjoyable. Apart from enabling you to avoid one of the frequent traffic jams, the stroll can take you to a completely different world, which you would hardly expect to find among the bridge’s grey concrete pillars. Such was the case in recent weeks, when this futuristic construction landmark, also known as the UFO bridge, hosted an interesting photographic exhibition.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIABratislava EXHIBITION:THE KING of Heavens Was Born is the title of a new double exhibition on show in Bratislava until January 31. Co-organised by the Slovak National Museum and the Zagreb Ethnographic Museum, it follows a successful exhibition focused on Slovak Christmas traditions held in Croatia last year. The exhibits are divided into two independent ensembles and include various valuable objects documenting Croatia’s rich Christmas tradition, most notably unique nativity scenes from both national and private collections. For the admission fee of €3.32, the display can be viewed Tuesday through Sunday between 9:00 and 17:00 at the SNM’s premises either at Vajanského nábrežie 2 or at Istrijská 68. The SNM is closed on December 24-27 and 30, as well as on January 1-3 and 6. For more information, call 02/5934-9111 or go to www.snm.sk.
Cities plan to celebrate, despite crisis
THE CRISIS looms from behind every corner and, here and there, Slovak municipalities have also been forced to tighten their belts wherever they can. New Year celebrations are no exception, but organisers are promising that the programmes they have prepared will – in spite of the more limited resources – be as much fun as ever.
Rays of the rising sun shine bright
THERE can hardly be two more different countries than Slovakia and Japan: the former a landlocked tiny young republic in central Europe, the latter a constitutional monarchy on an archipelago in the Pacific with a population of almost 130 million people and a per capita GDP twice as high. But still and all, the two nations do have things in common and, if joint efforts continue as successfully as they have so far, the countries might discover further similarities, perhaps many more than they would have expected.
Asian Tiger charms with food and arts
ART and food are universal languages that can be understood without the need for interpreters or dictionaries, however distant their countries of origin might be. This is an opinion clearly held by the diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Korea in Bratislava, who have regularly organised programmes focused on both these two areas. It seems their efforts have borne fruit.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Architecture seeks missionaries of the aesthetic
For architects, the ribbon-cutting ceremony is by no means the end of the adventure: the greatest reward (and best advertisement) is when their works are used, admired, or, in the perfect scenario, awarded prizes. The good news in Slovakia is that while doing a good job can be hard work, when it comes to winning prizes there is no shortage of prestigious competitions.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
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