Call for entries for the 27th edition of the Sportfilm Festival Liberec is open!

Last year, nearly 400 films from 70 countries from around the world applied. How many will it be this year? From May until the end of July, producers, manufacturers, owners, authors, or legal entities can submit competitive films for this year's edition of the Sportfilm festival in Liberec. The twenty-seventh installment of the traditional international festival, culminating in early October, offers an attractive accompanying program.

"The submission of competitive films was launched on May 1st and, just like in previous years, it is for free this year as well on www.sportfilm.cz through the filmfreeway.com platform. The submission portal closes on August 1, 2024," invites filmmakers Jakub Bažant, the festival's program director. Again, the competition includes categories such as Olympic Ideas, Documentaries, Sports Personalities, Feature Films and Series, and Methodology, Education. Competing films must have their first screening after January 1, 2019. During the ceremonial gala evening, which will take place on October 5th in the university auditorium, not only individual categories will be announced but traditionally also the Main Prize of the festival. Last year, the prestigious Věra Čáslavská prize, The Beam of Courage and Hope, which was first awarded to the golden Olympian Lukáš Krpálek, was received by Liston Bochette, an Olympian and artist from the USA.

"Every year, we strive for innovations that will bring us more viewers and a greater number of quality sports films. We succeed in this also because for the first time, we travel to audiences throughout the country during the year with Festival Echoes, where we screen the winning film of the last edition and hold discussions with actors such as Filip Březina (Sense for Tumor, Golden Trick) and Zdeněk Piškula (Three Brothers, Golden Trick, Stardance winner). Also new are the website www.sportfilm.cz," says festival director Renata Balašová.

Attractive festival jury

One of the significant names associated with Sportfilm is Adolf Zika, the director of one of the winning and internationally recognized films of the 2021 edition, Mr. Kriss. Other new, though not unknown names, include director and documentarian Markéta Ekrt Válková (Mára Goes to Heaven), directors Tomáš Mašín (Brothers) and Vojtěch Nouzák (Different League, Ice Bombs). Returning judges include Zdeněk Škoda from the Czech Olympic Academy, Jaroslav Černý from the Czech Film and Television Union, and longtime Czech Television commentator, author, and screenwriter Jakub Bažant, who is currently the festival's program director.

Traditional and new locations

This year's main festival program is scheduled from October 3rd to 6th in traditional locations in Liberec such as the premises of the Technical University, Club Lípa, RoSa Community Center, or the Clarion Grandhotel Zlatý Lev. Visitors can now also look forward to the renovated Liebieg Palace, where screenings, workshops, video workshops, art and ceramic workshops, game and VR zones, all on the theme of sport and art, will take place. Besides discussions and events for children and seniors, visitors to this year's Sportfilm can again enjoy interesting exhibitions: Olympic Games Paris 2024 (large-scale outdoor photographs), Oscar-winning films (posters), Marek Lavko (paintings), or the Mental Health conference and participate in sports events like the Sportfilm Golf Cup and the Festival Run. The program will also include presentations of film schools (secondary and universities).

World final in Milan

As in previous years, this year's winning films of the Liberec festival will compete with the world's competition at world final in Milan, Italy, from November 5th to 9th, 2024. Last year, Czech sports film scored in two categories. The football film Martin Škrtel and the documentary by Czech Television Blue Case about the best post-war hockey goalkeeper in the world. In 2022, the Mention d'Honneur award went to The Last Race and Zátopek. The film Jan Koller: The Story of an Ordinary Guy received the Critics' Award. Jan Koller also received the award for Sports Personality. The year 2021 brought the Mention d'Honneur award to Adolf Zika's film Mr. Kriss. In 2019, the prestigious Guirlande d'Honneur award went to the Czech Television film Golden Sting.

SPORTFILM LIBEREC INTERNATIONAL FICTS FESTIVAL

An international competitive festival of television and film productions with a thematic focus on sports, Olympic ideas, and games. The aim of the festival is to award the best films in individual categories and the best overall film. The professional guarantor of the SPORTFILM LIBEREC INTERNATIONAL FICTS FESTIVAL 2024 is the Czech Olympic Committee, the Czech Olympic Academy, the Czech Union of Sport, the Film and Television Union (FITES), and the INTERNATIONAL CINEMA TELEVISION SPORTIFS – Milan. The guarantor of Sportfilm is the Federation Internationale Cinema Televizion Sportifs (FICTS), which includes 130 countries. The patronage is held by the International Olympic Committee.