Girl America in Official Selection Competition

In his fourth feature film, Tauš delivers a poignant story about a forsaken girl raised in a bleak Czechoslovakian orphanage told as a vivid kaleidoscope of emotions, dreams, and memories brimming with colors and wildly energetic movement. Formally, the film is reminiscent of films by Terrence Malick, Harmony Korine, Benh Zeitlin, or Gakuryū Ishii, and represents a stylistic stand-out in this year's Czech feature film production.

Girl America was produced by Viktor Tauš through his production outfit HEAVEN'S GATE and coproduced by Václav Dejčmar, Barrandov Studio, VOYO, Czech Television, BFILM (SK), K Swiss Film (CH), PFX, and Lonely Productions. The film also received financial support from the Czech Film Fund (€338,000 in total for development in 2014 and production in 2020), Creative Europe – MEDIA program (€50,000), Slovak Audiovisual Fund, along with Ústí Region, Plzeň Region and Karlovy Vary Region.

The film had its Czech premiere on 26 September 2024.

Nobody Likes Me in Critics's Picks Competition

Nobody Likes me (CZ, SK, FR), a new feature by artictic duo Petr Kazda and Tomáš Weinreb, directors of I, Olga Hepnarova (CZ, PL, SK, FR), a 2016 psychological study of the eponymous Czechoslovak killer, will see its world premiere in the Critics' Picks Competition.

Nobody Likes Me tells the story of Sara, an attractive 29-year-old single woman. Sara works as a secretary at the army headquarters in Prague. Although she is constantly surrounded by strong young men, she has not found a partner yet, probably due to her authoritarian mother. Yet Sara enjoys solitude and has come to terms with her position as a detached observer of other people´s lives. When she meets the gallant, graceful, and soft-faced Martin, she is fascinated. Gradually, their connection grows, but when Sara wants to take their relationship to a deeper and more physical level, Martin shies away. He is hiding a deep secret.

Produced by Petr Kazda and Tomáš Weinreb through the production outfit Black Balance along with Vojtěch Frič of love.FRAME, and coproduced by Arytmia (SK), Bontonfilm, and Arizona Productions (FR). The Czech Film Fund supported the film with a total amount of €307,000.

Doc@PÖFF Competition

Doc@PÖFF Competition, an official documentary film competition at Talinn, hosts an international premiere of Ms. President (SK, CZ), a latest documentary by a Slovak filmmaker Marek Šulík. The film offers a captivating, behind-the-scenes look at Zuzana Čaputová’s groundbreaking journey as Slovakia’s first female president. Thanks to unprecedented access, the filmmakers take us on an four-year journey into the heart of political decision-making and personal sacrifice.

Produced by Barbara Janišová Feglová of Hitchhiker Cinema (SK) and coproduced by Ivo Andrle of Aerofilms (CZ), Czech Television (CZ), Radio and Television Slovakia (SK) and Marek Šulík through his production outfit Filmotras (SK) and supported by the Czech Film Fund within the minority co-production scheme with €47,500.

Just Film

24th edition of Just Film, the sub-festival of Black Nights Film Festival dedicated to youth and children's films, offers a selection of four Czech feature films.

Living Large (CZ, SK, FR), a colorful puppet animation by Kristina Dufková, addressing the topic of teenage overweight in a sensitive coming-of-age story based on the book by French author Mikaël Ollivier was selected for the ECFA Competition Programme. The film premiered at Annecy IAFF earlier this year and garnered a the Contrechamp Jury Award, one of the two prizes awarded in the Contrechamp competition, which complements the Official Competition. Recently, the film was awarded at the SCHLINGEL International Film Festival for children and young audiences and nominated for the European Film Award. Living Large is produced by Matěj Chlupáček of Barletta and co-produced by Czech Television, NOVINSKI (SK), and Novanima Productions (FR). The Czech Film Fund supported the film with the amount of €347,000.

Another film featured in the ECFA Competition Programme is the co-production family film Block 5 (SI, CZ, HR, RS) by Slovenian multi-genre director and producer Klemen Dvornik, produced by Barbara Daljavec and Branislav Srdić of A Atalanta and co-produced by Jakub Rálek of BFILM.cz on the Czech side. The film tells the story of the twelve-year-old Mia, who realizes that the playground near her new block will be turned into a parking lot. To save the playground from its immediate obliteration, Mia teams up with local skateboarders led by Rudi. Block 5 is Dvornik's fifth feature film. His biggest international success so far was the TV series The Lake (2019), which premiered globally at the Sarajevo Film Festival. 

Block 5 was supported by the Czech Film Fund within the minority co-production scheme with 79,000 EUR and will see its Baltic premiere on the festival.

ECFA Competition Programme also features the Estonian premiere of Diplodocus (PL, CZ, SK). Wojtek Wawszczyk’s 3D CGI animated adventure comedy with live-action sequences, inspired by the vibrant 1980s comic books of Polish author Tadeusz Baranowski, tells the tale of a young dinosaur on a quest to find his vanished parents. The film, primarily targeting children aged 6-9, also caters to adults with its nostalgic homage to an era characterized by bold colors and audacious humor. The narrative unfolds in a comic-book world, presenting a dual-layered story that oscillates between the author’s reality and the animated universe.

Produced by Human Film of Poland and the Czech full-service animation and post-production studio PFX, coproduced by the Polish public broadcaster TVP, DayHey and Mazovia Warsah Film Fund, Diplodocus is simultaneously featured in the Children's Competition Programme as well.

The last film showcased at 2024 Just Film is Wet Monday (PL, EE, CZ), a co-production between Poland, Estonia and the Czech Republic. Wet Monday tells the story of Klara (15), who was raped by a masked boy on Wet Monday, a traditional Polish Easter festivity popular with teenagers. Almost a year later, nine days before the trauma anniversary, Klara starts to suffer from an acute fear of water. Her older sister, Marta, advises her to ignore the problem and focus on attending Wet Monday, but Klara is determined to find a cure. Seeking healing, Klara experiments with esoteric healing rituals with her new friend Diana. The film is a captivating story, exploring the challenges of adolescence, the journey toward recovery from trauma, and the healing power of empathy.

Directed by Justyna Mytnik and produced by Bionaut on the Czech side, the film graces the International Youth Competition Programme. The Czech Film Fund supported the production of the film with €79,000.

Best of Festivals and Best of Docs

The Best of Festivals program offers a minor co-production The Editorial Office (UA, DE, SK, CZ) by Roman Bondarchuk, which premiered at the 2024 Berlinale. Additionally, the Best of Docs section hosts Wishing on a Star by Peter Kerekes, already screened at the Venice IFF and Toronto IFF earlier this year.

The Editorial Office follows Yura, a junior researcher from a provincial nature museum who stumbles into journalism after witnessing
a case of forest arson. This career pivot thrusts him into a murky world where truth and fiction intertwine. Bondarchuk weaves a tale of personal truth-seeking amid societal chaos, set both on the eve of the Ukraine war and in its fictionalized aftermath. The director’s portrayal of post-invasion Ukraine resonates with alarming realism, as he incorporates elements like deepfake technology and media manipulation to underscore the precariousness of truth in times of crisis while exploring parallel realities: the “facade” of democracy and a harsher, more dangerous reality hidden in the shadows. Produced by Darya Bassel of Moon Man and Dar’ya Averchenko of South Films (Ukraine), coproduced by Elemag Pictures (Germany), Silverart (Slovakia), and MasterFilm’s Dagmar Sedláčková, The Editorial Office captures Kherson’s atmosphere just before its tragic transformation due to the war.

Wishing on a Star is a time-lapse travelogue that blends the authenticity of documentary filmmaking with the structured storytelling of drama. The fusion allows Kerekes to explore human experiences and cultural nuances through a richly textured cinematic lens. Kerekes' ability to merge documentary realism with dramatic narrative techniques has become a hallmark of his style, earning him critical acclaim and positioning him as a unique auteur.

Kerekes, known for his award-winning works such as Velvet Terrorists and 107 Mothers, brings his signature blend of humor, empathy, and human insight to the film. The film’s layered storytelling and the seven-year dedication to capturing its protagonists’ journeys underscore the meticulous craftsmanship and commitment.

Wishing on a Star is a co-production between Italy, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Croatia, co-produced by Artcam Films for the Czech Republic. The film has been supported by Fondo Audiovisivo FVG, MiC (Ministero della Cultura), Eurimages, Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Czech Film Fund (minority support amounting to €40,000), Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission, South Moravian Film Fund, Creative Europe –MEDIA, TAICCA.

PÖFF Shorts 

The 8th edition of PÖFF Shorts, the short film and animation festival within the Black Nights Film Festival, running 8–20 November, will also feature several Czech films, including one with the world premiere status. All of these are either produced or coproduced by prolific Czech production company MAUR film.

Short Animation Competition hosts three short animated films: I Died in Irpin (CZ, SK, UA), an autobiographical ani-doc by Anastasiia Falileieva, presenting a true story of survival and escape from the Russian-invaded city of Irpin, Joko (PL, DE, CZ, 2024), a grotesque, Kafkaesque narrative of exploitation and domination, and most importantly, the world premiere of Kafka. In Love (LV, CZ) by Zane Oborenko, an animated short based on Kafka’s letters to writer and translator Milena Jesenská, the second great love of Kafka's life.

In addition, Hello Summer (SK, CZ, FR) by Martin Smatana and Veronika Zacharová, a vibrant film merging stop-motion with hand-drawn animation techniques to tell the story of a family vacation, graces the Shorts Kids Animation selection. I Died in Irpin, Joko and Hello Summer premiered at Annecy IAFF earlier this year, with Joko and Hello Summer being awarded as well (find out more here).

Over 5500 films from 116 countries were submitted to PÖFF Shorts this year, with 114 films selected.

About the festival

Founded in the Estonian capital in 1997, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has grown in its relatively short existence into the most important film event in the Baltic region, which, in addition to the main film program consisting of four competition sections and several non-competition sections, also includes a separate festival for children and young audiences called Just Film, the PÖFF Shorts competition for fiction and animated shorts, and two main events for film professionals called Baltic Event and Industry@Tallinn.

Czech films appear regularly in the PÖFF program. Last year alone, over 20 Czech films of various formats and lengths were featured in the official selection, including the world premieres of Endless Summer Syndrome by Kaveh Daneshmand and Mr. and Mrs. Stodola by Petr Hátle in the prestigious First Feature Competition, and Her Body by Natálie Císařovská in the Critics' Picks Competition.

All the selected Czech films can also by found HERE.