In less than two months, Piešťany will once again transform into the centre of the film world. The 21st edition of the Cinematik International Film Festival will offer visitors nearly a hundred films, a wealth of hot new releases, Slovak premieres, and exclusive festival previews. Organisers are promising an exceptionally high-quality programme, aiming to surpass the milestone 20th edition. The huge interest in the festival was also confirmed by the sale of festival passes – the first discounted wave sold out in under two minutes.
The 21st edition of the Cinematik International Film Festival will take place from 8th to 13th September. Over six days, it will present a selection of the best in contemporary world cinema – from award-winning festival hits to highly anticipated new films. Audiences can look forward to films that have impressed audiences and professional juries in recent months at the most prestigious world festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and at the recent Karlovy Vary festival.
„The festival was founded with the vision of creating a space for quality cinema, open dialogue and free thinking. After more than two decades, we can say that this vision has been fulfilled. A strong community of people has grown around Cinematik, who believe in the power of film and its ability to connect, inspire and open up important topics.“ the festival's artistic director Vladimír Štric stated
This year, the main competition section, Meeting Point Europe, will once again bring you the best of contemporary European cinematography. Visitors to the 21st edition of Cinematik will see a carefully selected collection of the most notable European films from the past year. The section's programme is compiled by an international jury composed of fourteen film critics who collaborate with the festival. The result is a unique selection, unparalleled in Slovakia, of the very best that contemporary European cinematography has to offer. As the only festival in Slovakia, Cinematik will screen this year's Cannes drama winner Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), also a holder of the award for best director (ex-aequo) Fatherland (Paweł Pawlikowski).
The much-anticipated audience section will showcase an extensive festival selection of the very best. Roads of glory focused on films featured at those biggest film events. „When compiling the Horyzon segment, I place particular emphasis not only on the stamp of an international festival screening but also on the quality and originality of the film. The highlights of the segment will be titles from the Cannes Film Festival – Soudain (Ryūsuke Hamaguchi), Paper Tiger (James Gray) and Gentle (Marie Kreutzer).“ explains programme team member Peter Konečný. These will not be the only big programme moments of this year's edition, however.
Visitors to Cinematik can also expect exceptional films in the traditional midnight section Beyond the Cult, domestic documentary film competition Cinematic.doc which will present the latest Slovak projects that are yet to be talked about. Cinematik again this year will bring the most premieres of Slovak production of all domestic festivals, including in the section Slovak Horizons. The detailed festival programme, which also includes a rich industry programme, discussions and lectures, will be gradually revealed by the organisers over the coming weeks.
“ ”For the 21st edition, we want to bring the best films to Piešťany and at the same time introduce new impulses that will move the festival forward - for everyone who attends. We are preparing many accompanying events that have long been part of our festival, and we believe that we will once again create the largest film space in Slovakia in Piešťany." said the executive director of the festival, Tomáš Klenovský, about the upcoming 21st edition.