Last Tuesday the first edition of the travelling film festival Visegrad Shorts on Tour came to an end in Budapest. Robert Hloz’s “Numbers”, shot in South Korea, received Daazo.com’s 1000-euro Visegrád Short Film Award. The audiences of the four countries chose Polish “Grandma Has Gone” by Tomasz Jurkiewicz, who won the audience award.

There were six short films selected to the final competition programme that went on tour to the four Visegrad countries, together with their directors. After screenings in Krakow, Prague and Bratislava, the tour closed in Budapest. The full house screening was concluded with awarding the 1000-euro Visegrad Short Film Award and the audience award, selected basing on the votes given out by the audiences from all four countries.

The international jury comprised of Hungarian producer Ferenc Pusztai, Petr Horák from the Czech Film Center and Phillip Ilson from the London Short Film Festival, awarded Robert Hloz’s short film “Numbers” praising it for its "clear form and the subtle humour appearing alongside profound, thought-provoking questions". The audience award went to Tomasz Jurkiewicz’s film “Grandma Has Gone” that got the highest number of votes. This Polish short portrays the relationship between a boy who often tells fibs and his alcoholic father after the beloved grandma has gone. Film was produced by Krzysztof Kieślowski Radio and Tv Department of the Silesian University in Katowice.

The winning films can be viewed online:

Robert Hloz (CZ), "Numbers" http ://daazo .com /film /f 552 ef 7 c -6 d 1 e -11 e 1-8 ecb -2 c 4138874152

Tomasz Jurkiewicz (PL), "Grandma has gone " http ://daazo .com /film /3 ca 24 cc 4-75 a 8-11 e 1-8 ecb -2 c 4138874152

Short filmmaking in the Visegrád region – panel discussion

The panel talk, organized in the framework of the festival took place in Budapest on 18^th April. Ágnes Havas from the Hungarian National Film Fund, present at Uránia Cinema where the panel was held, said that the found will, in cooperation with film schools, continue supporting production of student films. József Fülöp from MOME added that this support is of utmost importance as film schools are now being such an important platform for innovation that offering many programs for young people. Hungarian filmmaker Nóra Lakos added some remarks she had from her experience – she was not able to make short films, not even in a European co-production, as she couldn’t apply for any sort of support from Hungary – the NMHH had not yet announced its tender for the short film. Csaba Bollók suggested that young filmmakers should create a platform together so that the support for short films is not only restricted to student films but available for other filmmakers as well. The international guests of the talk brought out further problems visible in the region which are related not only to financing but also to the sector of distribution and promotion. In Poland and Czech Republic, there are special organisations that deal with the promotion of short films but in Slovakia, legal issues still make things very difficult. The participants agreed that although short filmmaking hardly ever brings financial profit it is a vital step towards entering the film industry.

Mihály Beke from the International Visegrad Fund said he is ready to consider the points brought up by the panelists and promised to pay special attention to the projects that could possibly offer a solution to the problems mentioned. The founders of the short film sharing site Daazo.com think that the root of the problem stems from the lack of communication: Dániel Deák suggested that the first step towards a finding the solution would be organizing a series of further meetings and talks leading to creation of the Visegrád database.

The online voting is on

Visegrád Shorts on Tour has not finished yet with the award ceremony: the online users can also vote for their favourite from and choose from the 120 films entered. The winner of the online audience award will win a LomoKino 35 Movie Maker camera. To vote, the viewer has to click the LIKE button next to the film he chooses.

On the occasion of the Visegrad Shorts on Tour events, Daazo.com published the short film magazine World of Shorts – the Visegrad issue. To read the magazine online, click here

Visegrad Shorts on tour was organized by Daazoo.com with the support of Visegrad Found and the local partners – kino Praha (Czech Republic), OZ Publikum (Slovakia) and Krakow Film Foundation (Poland).

APRIL 2012