The Cinematik International Film Festival in Piešťany is celebrating its 20th birthday this year. This anniversary edition will also feature its main festival competition, Meeting Point Europe. According to the organisers, festival-goers can look forward to an exceptional year. Cinematik's history is remarkable – it has spanned a total of 117 festival days and showcased 2,057 films.
„The 20th anniversary edition of Cinematik will offer audiences its highest quality main competition Meeting Point Europe to date, in which it has presented the most important European films of the last twelve months since its first edition.” announced Peter Konečný, a member of the MFF Cinematik programme team. „Ten outstanding films and a total of eight exclusive Slovak premieres. Viewers can look forward to cinematography from Norway, Georgia, Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.”
Meeting Point Europe is an arena for quality, new European cinema, which often arrives in Piešťany already bearing awards and acclaim from prestigious international festivals. „The main competition at Cinematik is also a grand showcase of award-winning films from Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, and San Sebastián. This fact, too, defines the competition section as thematically and qualitatively rich, while simultaneously offering audiences an extraordinary opportunity to see the key cinematic works of the year.” Peter Konečný is approaching the song for the competition section.
Beyond the filmmaking artistry of talented filmmakers, Meeting Point Europe also highlights strong current themes that tend to resonate with audiences long after the credits roll. The drama by Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili April (April, 2024) is a prime example of this. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Venice Film Festival, tells the story of a young doctor who, despite the illegality of abortions in a conservative country, helps women resolve unwanted pregnancies.
Another, no less urgent, perspective on femininity and its pitfalls is brought by Ugly sister (The Ugly Stepsister, 2025), a horror-comedy by Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt. It shows the extremes to which an individual can be pushed by a society where physical beauty equals success.
Black and white comedy-drama A third-day guest and a fish (Three Days of Fish, 2024; dir. Peter Hoogendoorn) offers a reflection on the reality of family relationships. It follows a three-day reunion between a father and his adult son, successfully avoiding cliché idyllic portrayals and confirming that the best family visits are short ones. The film shone at festivals in Rotterdam, São Paulo, and Karlovy Vary, where its lead actor, Ton Kas, won the Crystal Globe for his performance.
The main competition at Cinematik will also feature the Golden Bear winner from Berlinale – a Norwegian film Snw (Sex Love, 2024, dir. Dag Johan Haugerud). Its main protagonist is a teenage girl facing the unwanted revelation of her first, platonic love – for her teacher. A German festival hit The sound of a fall (Looking into the Sun, 2025) is a remarkable chronicle of the fates of four generations of women on a remote farm in East Germany. Director Mascha Schilinski addresses themes of intergenerational trauma and patriarchy, and was awarded the Jury Prize for her ambitious film at the Cannes Film Festival.
And the romantic comedy genre will also be represented in this year's Meeting Point Europe competition. The film Jane Austen has ruined my life (Jane Austen a gâché ma vie, 2024), by the Italian-French director Laura Piani, follows the journey of a lonely librarian who tries to break free from a self-destructive longing for love.
An interesting perspective on love and intimacy is also brought by Love (Love, 2024; Norway, dir. Dag Johan Haugerud) – a gently provocative love story of four characters who reject traditional relationship models and seek their own, authentic path. Spanish-French drama Sirat (Sirât, 2025; dir. Oliver Laxe) is once again an invitation to the hypnotic world of illegal rave parties in the Moroccan desert, where the protagonist arrives searching for his missing daughter. The original, captivatingly raw film was one of the biggest surprises of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize, but also captivated audiences at the Karlovy Vary IFF, for example.
A powerful and raw experience is also promised by the drama Dismal afternoons (Tardes de Soledad, 2024). Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra captures a dynamic portrait of a star bullfighter and his duel with a wild bull. The recipient of three prestigious awards from the San Sebastián Film Festival brings poetics alongside the cruelty of traditional man-versus-animal duels. Rounding out the competitive ten in the Meeting Point Europe section is a German-Swedish-Colombian drama with comedic elements. Poet (A Poet, 2025; dir. Simón Mesa Soto). The winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival tells the story of a failing, aging poet who must confront his own demons while mentoring a talented teenager.
„The selection of the best European titles from the past year was compiled by a large international jury composed of fourteen critics who collaborate with the festival throughout the year.” Peter Konečný shines a light on the behind-the-scenes of the competition. „This is a unique, concentrated selection of European cinema in Slovakia. All you need to do is come to the festival for film experiences for months to come, as most of the films in the programme won't make it into regular cinemas. And this doesn't just apply to the main competition section. This year's Cinematik will screen around a hundred top-class films from over thirty countries.” delivers Final.
The 20th edition of the Cinematik International Film Festival will take place from 10 to 15 September 2025. In addition to the main feature film competition, it will also host the Cinematik.doc competition for domestic documentary films, as well as numerous non-competitive screenings and accompanying events.
„I consider it a major success that, thanks to an extraordinary concept for the main competition, Cinematik has become one of the most important film festivals both domestically and internationally, and that we have managed to build possibly the best audience base.“ adds artistic director Vladimír Štric.