The Slovak Oscar nominee is the film The Hungarian Dressmaker. The decision was announced at the Cinematik festival, where the film had its Slovak premiere

This was decided by the membership of the Slovak Film and Television Academy (SFTA), which this year selected from among 10 submitted films. Iveta Grófová’s historical drama will finally compete for the most prestigious film award. The decision was announced at the Cinematik festival by SFTA president Katarína Krnáčová. The Slovak national nominee for the 97th edition of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Oscar Award in the Best Foreign Film category is Iveta Grófová’s film about the Holocaust, The Hungarian Dressmaker. The decision was made by the Slovak Film and Television Academy and for the first time in history the winning film was announced at the Cinematik film festival in Piešt’any.

“We would like to thank the organisers of this great festival very much for allowing us to announce the name of the winning film during the closing ceremony, which will represent Slovakia in the fight for the Oscar, I sincerely hope that our cooperation with the festival will be even more intensive in future editions.” said SFTA President Katarína Krnáčová, who announced the winning film at the festival.

10 nominated films

The jury, composed of all SFTA members, selected the 10 nominated films from among the 10 submitted works, and the voting had to be done in accordance with the AMPAS terms and conditions. Prior to the actual voting, all submitted films are available to female academics on a secure online platform. Voting then takes place and this year 111 voters took part. “We had a record number of votes this year, which I am very happy about and thank everyone who sent in their vote. There was only a difference of a few votes between the films that finished in the first three places, and even only one vote decided the winner,” Krnáčová revealed.

The nominated film The Hungarian Dressmaker was adapted from a book by the writer Petr Krištúfek, who unfortunately did not live to direct his own film due to a tragic accident. Slovak award-winning director Iveta Grófová eventually took over the directorial direction of the film. The plot of the film takes the viewer to the wartime Slovak state, where a Hungarian seamstress, Marika, has lost her job and leaves Bratislava to return to her husband’s house in the Slovak-Hungarian border region. Things are boiling in the wartime Slovak state. Czechs have already been expelled from the country, Jews are being deported, and Marika, with her Hungarian background, is not having an easy time of it either. What’s more, a Jewish boy is hiding from the Nazis and the Guards in her barn. As a lonely woman, she attracts the attention of both a Hlinka Guard captain and a German Nazi officer. The audience can see Alexandra Borbély, Milan Ondrík and Nico Klimek in the main roles.

Important strike alert The SFTA President also recalled the serious state in which the entire Slovak culture department is currently situated and which threatens the further development of film art in Slovakia. “We are uniting across all artistic sectors and across the whole of Slovakia to express our vocal opposition to the destructive interventions by the leadership of the Slovak Ministry of Culture into culture at all levels. To date, up to 3,360 people from 90 cities across Slovakia have joined the Culture Strike,” concluded Katarína Krnáčová, adding: “Film festivals and awards are a celebration of film and the Slovak audiovisual community has something to be rightly proud of. Slovak films are successful both at foreign festivals and in domestic cinemas. Let us support each other and protect free creators. We have our fingers crossed for the winning film and we hope that it will represent Slovakia with honour at the Academy Awards.”