It was originally staged in Zlin because the city in south-eastern Moravia had one of the first big movie studios in the Czech Republic, which was founded by famous local entrepreneur Jan Antonin Bata in 1936. The film studio was originally used to make promotional and advertising material for his company and products and gradually became the most prominent centre of filmmaking focussed on children and young people. It also became famous for its animation work, and has been used by numerous international directors over the years.
Robe's marketing manager Jiri Baros arranged and co-ordinated Robe's support for the Film Festival. He says, "We wanted to support this event because it is a not-for-profit project for children from all parts of the Czech Republic, and focused on children with disadvantages - physical handicaps, mentally disabilities, those without parents or from care institutions. The organising team work very hard all year round for one goal - to bring smiles to childrens' faces."
The festival is much more than just movie screenings, featuring a full accompanying programme of concerts, live performances, seminars and lectures.
This year the main screening venue was the new Congress and University Centre, designed by Eva Jiricna Architects. Robe provided lighting to pick out the Film Festival branding around the exterior of the building using Anolis ArcLine multi-chip LED fixtures, and also lit a Skoda Super vehicle - Skoda was one of the main sponsors - which was on display at the front, with four Anolis ArcSource 96s, giving it a striking presence.
In front of the building, across the street from the red carpet area was a 20m long, 6m high metal structure constructed to hold flags representing all the participating countries, which was spectacularly lit with four Anolis ArcPad Xtremes for the duration of the Festival.
The Festival Awards Ceremony event was staged in the Congress Hall's main auditorium and broadcast live on national TV channel, CT1, and for this Robe supplied a quantity of ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200 plus Robin 600 Beam, Spot and Wash moving heads.
Lighting was designed by Duan Kír and operated by Milan Lokvenc. The set was designed by Tomá Rusín and the Awards show was directed by Petr Soukup. Twelve high profile Awards were presented by Jan ?enský, including the acclaimed Golden Slipper Award for the best feature film for children. This was won by The Liverpool Goalie, the feature film debut of Norwegian director Arild Andresen.
(Jim Evans)
