Explore and Discover. This is the main challenge and primary central theme of the upcoming 59th Zlín Film Festival. The selected travel theme of the festival is linked to the approaching 100th birthday of the famous traveler, adventurer and writer Miroslav Zikmund. The Zlín Film Festival will be held from May 24 until June 1, 2019. Filmmakers can already submit their films now.

What films was awarded?

Zlín Film Festival, the 58th edition of the International Festival of Films for Children and Youth, has reached its final stage. A total of 169 films were screened in its competition sections, the most successful being Supa Modo, The Third Wish or Los Bando. Apart from film screenings, festival visitors enjoyed a large number of supporting events organized at various locations throughout the town. They could meet film celebrities for both home and abroad, including the actors Jaromír Hanzlík, Ivana Andrlová and Maroš Kramár, Anna Geislerová, Simona Stašová, Ivana Chýlková, Josef Trojan, Zdeněk Piškula, the Irish actor Art Parkinson, the American actor Josh Wiggins, the Slovak actress living in Italy Barbora Bobuľová, the Italian composer and conductor Andrea Morricone, or members of 71 delegations who brought their films to the festival.

An unconventional hobby was introduced to the viewers by the Finnish film Revolutionary Hobby, directed by Selma Vilhunen, which was personally introduced by Alisa Aarniomäki, one of the girls practicing hobbyhorsing. She gave us a very exciting interview.

Even when they were young, best friends Axel and Grim dreamed of making musical history with their band ‘Los Bando Immortale’. One day they receive an invitation to take part in the Norwegian Rock Championship – and suddenly it seems that anything is possible. The only problem is, Axel can’t sing. And because Grim can’t bring himself to tell the truth, they end up on a musical road trip to the far north – along with Thilda, a 9-year-old cellist, and Martin, a rally driver. When they find themselves caught up in a hair-raising car chase, it becomes clear that the journey symbolizes an escape for each of them. With every passing kilometre the group of youngsters grows closer, heading triumphantly for the grand finale.

The feature film "Backstage" will hit Czech cinemas on June 7, 2018. It was directed by Andrea Sedláčková, author of the award-winning drama Fair Play. Backstage will introduce an entirely new genre of dance film to Czech film. In addition to the actors and the story, rhythm, music and dance choreography play a big role in it.

The international competition of short animated films for children introduces to its small spectators 62 films of all genres and film techniques from 24 countries of the world. France and Russia will have the largest representation. The most exotic countries are Singapore, Venezuela and Chile. The Czech Republic is represented by student films White Horse and Cherry Tree from Tomas Bata University in Zlín, which originated with support from the FILMTALENT Zlín Foundation. 

The great surprise of this year's competition was for the festival dramaturgy the Serbian-Macedonian film, with the mysterious original name Zlogonje. Despite somewhat ominous name, it's not a horror or a thriller. It tells story about superhearts.

From the Congress Centre, from the main square, from the streets, and the parks. From here and from every quarter, film melodies will be part of the film festival. And film music itself is one of the main themes of this year's festival. For this occasion, Italian music composer Maestro Andrea Morricone arrived yesterday in Zlín; he's made a name for himself because of his film music, among other things. Andrea Morricone, son of the phenomenal composer Ennio Morricone, is one of the greatest contemporary Italian composers and conductors today. In Zlín last night he introduced himself with a concert to present the Czech film 72 Hours in Bangkok, which was directed and produced by Lubomír Haltmar. This screening was the film's world premiere and Morricone is the composer of the film's music. The film deals with a lost two-year-old boy in Bangkok and points to the theme of lost children. The screening was preceded by Andrea Morricone's concert performance, and aside from the score of the film, there were also film melodies from his father and the joint composition they made together for the film Cinema Paradiso.  On the occasion of his visit to Zlín, we asked Andrea Morricone for a brief interview in which he told us, among other things, why he decided to collaborate with director Haltmar and what music he likes to listen to in his spare time.