Bratislava 2008

"The Zone" by Rodrigo Plá

The International Film Festival Bratislava is a middle-sized festival taking place in a cinema center inside a huge shopping mall that makes you forget that you are in the capital of Slovakia.
    The competition is open to first and second feature films from all over the world. Fourteen films competed at the tenth edition of the festival. The FIPRESCI prize has been awarded along with the four prizes of the main jury for one of the films in competition. In addition to the competition, one is offered several other sections: "Made in Europe", "Off the Mainstream", "GMT" (that is films by well-known international directors), "Focus: Music and Film", "Slovak Films 2008", "Asylum — Short Films" and "Video Art".
    The festival is well attended by normal audiences. Many screenings were sold out; especially the Slovak films seemed to attract the local cinema goers. The festival offers a convincing mixture of European and World Cinema, of art cinema and of commercial cinema that will reach the theatres sooner or later next year. The Bratislava festival is not the place to go to if you are looking for stars on red carpets, but it is a good suggestion for cinema lovers between Vienna, Budapest and Prague. And though the shopping mall won't give you much inspiration: it offers the best cappuccino you can dream of. (Thomas Rothschild)

Bratislava International Film Festival, Slovak Republic, November 28 — December 5, 2008, www.iffbratislava.sk
FIPRESCI Prize: Under the Bombs (Sous les bombes) by Philippe Aractingi (Lebanon, France, UK, Belgium, 2007). Details

Reports

A Human Scream against Atrocities. Under the Bombs "is a strong anti-war message from the Lebanon region, alerting the world to the real tragedy of this unfortunate people. It is also an oblique critique of the hypocritical western peace keeping mission as well as of the sensationalist global mass-media", writes Dejan Petrovic.
Powerful Works. Bálint Szalóky picks out some of the highlights from this year's festival, finding a lot of films of quality.
The Continuous Ascension of Slovak Cinema. For Ladislav Volko the festival's selection of contemporary Slovak films is the best proof of the continuous ascension of Slovak cinema to international recognition.
The Rich and the Poor. Thomas Rothschild states that films might have a premonition of what is going on in the world and in society and what might be threatening mankind.
One Prize Is Not Enough. In the eyes of Ege Görgün, there were five first five films in competition on an approximately equal professional level: in spite of some weaknesses here and there, they displayed strong dramaturgical and directing skills, as well as fine performances.

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