Film clapperboards

The 'Minisalon – Film Clapperboards' is one of the traditional supporting events of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín. This unique exhibition, which is connected each year with a public auction, took place in 2010 for the thirteenth time. It is therefore worthwhile to look back at the history of this exhibition through this this retrospective exhibition showing each year of it.

For over a century the film clapperboard has not only been a practical tool, but it's also been a slightly nostalgic symbol of filmmaking. In 1998, Zlín Film Festival's organizers got the idea to turn the film clapperboard into a work of art and collector's piece. During Zlín's 38th film festival 26 artists from various fields – graphic artists, actors, filmmakers – were given clapperboards and asked to imprint them with their own personal artistic style. Their work was then put on display for the public during the festival and then auctioned off at a public auction. Thus originated a tradition that has accompanied the festival to the present.

The artistically rendered clapperboards have not only been admired by visitors to the gallery in Zlín, but they have also been put on display by Zlín Film Festival at many other places, both at home and abroad. The clapperboard exhibition has been on display in Prague (e.g. The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Goethe Institute, Hibernia Theater), in Brno (Galerie Dílo), and also in Brussels and Los Angeles, USA. The ‘Mini Salon of Film Clapperboards’ is a prestigious and internationally unique supporting event of Zlín’s festival, and in recent years it has enjoyed considerable attention from the media, guests, audiences, and collectors of fine art. The number of clapperboards on display has increased many times over since 1998, and its proceeds have also grown.

In 2010, 134 pieces were exhibited that were later publicly auctioned on Friday June 4, 2010 at the close of the 50th festival for a respectable amount of CZK 2,143,000. The most successful clapperboard was Zdeněk Miler's How the Mole Got His Trousers. It was auctioned off for CZK 170,000.

The proceeds from the auction are given each year to Film School Zlín. This financial support helps in the completion of selected films made at this school by promising filmmakers. Many of them have been successfully presented at many film festivals at home and abroad.

The statistics from 1998 to 2010 (13 years):