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September 2021

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MARTIN WAS AWARDED AT ZLIN FILM FEST FOR CHILDREN

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MARTIN AND MAGICAL FOREST WAS AWARDED AT ZLIN FILM FESTIVAL 

After the world premiere of our new film Martin and the Magical Forest at the BUFF Film Festival in Malmö, our film was also presented at the 61st Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth, where it won the Audience Award – the Zlín City Award.

Thank you and we are happy that the film has found its way to the audience even in this difficult time!

You can find the interview with the film’s director Peter Oukropcom here.

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PRODUCER PETER BADAČ MEMBER OF ACE PRODUCER’S NETWORK

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PRODUCER PETER BADAČ MEMBER OF ACE PRODUCER’S NETWORK

BFILM producer Peter Badač was chosen among 18 participants for the 31st edition of the prestigious ACE Producers Workshop. Slovakia was last time represented in this program by producer Zora Jaurová in 2015.

ACE (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen) production training has existed since 1993 and is one of the most important training programs aimed at supporting international co-productions in European cinema. During its existence, it has been attended by more than 200 producers from 45 countries.

It is a series of workshops, training modules and individual consultations to help producers develop projects with the ambition of international co-productions. The program is aimed at educating producers in the development of new projects, their financing, marketing and distribution on a specific example of their own project or case studies of graduates of the program.

You can find the complete list of selected producers for the 31st edition here.

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MARTIN ON HIS AUTUMN’S FESTIVAL TOUR

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MARTIN WILL BE SCREENED ON MORE FESTIVALS IN AUTUMN

After the world premiere of our new film Martin and the Magical Forest at the BUFF Film Festival in Malmö, our film will be screened at other film festivals in the autumn.

Among the world’s major festivals, the film will be screened in September at the Zurich Film Festival, the Buster Children’s Festival in Copenhagen and the Kids Kino in Warsaw. In October, it will also perform at the renowned BFI Film Festival in London, at the Lucas and Schlingel children’s festivals in Germany In November in some other festivals.

From domestic festivals, the film will be screened at the International Children’s Film Festival in Zlín and at the Ota Hoffman Children’s Film Festival in Ostrov.

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THE STORY OF ARAL SEA (2021)

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ONCE THERE WAS A SEA…: THE STORY OF ARAL SEA (2021)

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ABOUT THE FILM

Once There Was a Sea…: The Story of Aral Sea is short animated documentary about the Aral Sea. Most of the changes in climate and landscape in the area of the Aral Sea are the outcomes of one of the worst man-made eco-catastrophes in human history. The Aral Sea is dying. The idea of the film Once There Was a Sea…: The Story of Aral Sea came to mind of director Joanna Kozuch during her train trips through the region of Middle Asia in 2008 and 2014. The film is inspired by the place on the borders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and the stories and destinies of the people that she has met when I was exploring the disaster of Aral Sea.

Once There Was a Sea…: The Story of Aral Sea is a film about consequences of human decisions and actions, how they can affect daily life of one Uzbek town and its inhabitants. As the reporter Ryszard Kapuściński states it: “There is no such a nonsense human mind could not invent.”

The animated documentary by Joanna Kozuch.

The project is realised in co-production of Anima-Pol (PL), plackartnyj (SK), TVP (PL), EC1 Lodz (PL) and Radio and Television Slovakia (SK). The project was financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Polish Film Institute, the programme of European Union Creative Europe MEDIA,  the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, the Bratislava Self-Governing Region and Literary Fund. The international sales agent of the film is Miyu Distribution.

animation, PL/SK, 2021, 26 min.

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FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Project was presented at these forums:

Pitching du Réel, 2016, Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland
Cartoon 360 Pitching forum 2018, Lille, France
Euroconnection 2019, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Animation in Poland 2021, Krakow Film Festival, Krakow, Poland

AUTHORS

Director: Joanna Kozuch
Screenplay: Joanna Kozuch, Katarína Moláková
Script Consultants: Phil Parker, Barbora Budinská
Producer: BFILM – Peter Badač
Co-producers: Anima-Pol (PL) – Joanna Wendorff, plackartnyj (SK), TVP (PL), EC1-Lodz (PL), RTVS (SK)
Art Design: Joanna Kozuch
Animation: Marek Jasaň, Joanna Kozuch, Michaela Mašáňová, Agata Mikina, Marta Magnuska, Jolanta Dudzińska, Matej Babic, Michalina Musialik, Justyna Pazdan, Janusz Martyn
Editor: Marek Šulík
Sound Design: Dušan Kozák
Music: Martin Hasák

JOANNA KOZUCH

Joanna (1977) graduated at Fine Art studies of University of Arts in Poznan. As an artist Joanna participated on several exhibitions and co-operated on animation shorts productions (The Last Bus, Stones). She is also a teacher on Animation department at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she finished her PhD. studies. Her film debut Fongopolis won in 2014 Anča Slovak Award and national film award Sun in the Net for the best animation. Lately she finished short animated documentary Once There Was a Sea…

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Filmography:

The Game (short animation film,2004)
Fongopolis (short animation film, 2013)
39 Weeks, 6 Days (short animation film, 2017)
Music Box (short animation film, 2019)
Once There Was a Sea… (short animation documentary, 2021)
Once There Was a Sea…: The Story of Aral Sea (short animation documentary, 2021)

GALLERY

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CONTACTS

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Producer
BFILM – Peter Badač
peter(at)bfilm.sk

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Festivals
MIYU distribution – Luce Grosjean
festival(at)miyu.fr

miyu-distribution

Sales
MIYU distribution – Luce Grosjean
luce.grosjean(at)miyu.fr

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ONCE THERE WAS A SEA… (2021)

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ONCE THERE WAS A SEA… (2021)

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ABOUT THE FILM

Last human stories from the glittering bottom of dying Aral Sea.

Svetlana stares into the salt desert with her only eye. Gulshat runs an empty hotel. Captain records traces of the vanishing sea, and Sergei drives tourists across its bare, glittering seabed. The last people of Mo´ynoq who remember the original shore of drying Aral Sea… Their days are intertwined with memories of the glorious past of the fishing power and dreams of the return of the great water. The present is a cemetery of ships that will never set sail from the port again.

The animated documentary by Joanna Kozuch.

The project is realised in co-production of Anima-Pol (PL), plackartnyj (SK), TVP (PL), EC1-Lodz (PL) and Radio and Television Slovakia (SK). The project was financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Polish Film Institute, the programme of European Union Creative Europe MEDIA,  the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, the Bratislava Self-Governing Region and the Literary Fund. The international sales agent of the film is Miyu Distribution.

animation, PL/SK, 2021, 17 min.

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TRAILER

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

The Slovak premiere of this film was held on October 12, 2021 in Košice, Slovakia. The international premiere of this film was held in January 2022 at 44th Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2022 in France.

Since then it has received these awards:

Student Jury Award – 44th Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2022, France
Best Short Film – Anifilm – International Festival of Animated Films 2022, Liberec, Czechia 
Special Mention – CinemAmbiente – Environmental Film Festival 2022, Torino, Italy
Special Mention National Competition – 15th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR, Poland 2022 
ANIMALAB Award – Animare Cartoon Film Festival 2022, Italy
Best Animated Film – Krakow Green Film Festival 2022, Poland 2022 
St. Vojtech Prize for the best Visegrad Film – Biennial of Animation Bratislava BAB 2022, Bratislava, Slovakia
Best Short Film – 8th International Short Film Festival SHORT FORM 2022, Belgrade, Serbia
Best Short Film – 48th IFF EKOFILM 2022, Brno, Czechia
Best Anidoc –17th ANIMEST – Animation Film Festival 2022, Bucharest, Romania
ANIMALAB Award – Sedicicorto – International Film Festival 2022, Forli, Italy
Special Jury Award –Kaohsiung Film Festival 2022, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Special Mention –CinéOpen – Festival de Cinéma d’Animation de Pontarlier 2022, Pontarlier, France
Best Animation for Adults – “TOFUZI” International Animated Film Festival 2022, Tbilisi, Georgia
Slnko v sieti – Slovak National Film Award 2021 for The Best Animation 
IGRIC, National Creative Awards IGRIC 2022

You could have seen Once There Was a Sea… at these festivals:

44th Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2022, France
Ulju Mountain Film Festival 2022, Ulju, South Korea
Brussels Short Film Festival 2022, Brussels, Belgium
Anifilm – International Festival of Animated Films 2022, Liberec, Czechia
Vienna Shorts 2022, Vienna, Austria
Framed Film Festival 2022, Groningen, The Netherlands
Psarokokalo Athens International Short Film Festival 2022, Athens, Greece
Animafest Zagreb – World Festival of Animated Film 2022, Zagreb, Croatia
FICG – Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara 2022, Guadalajara, Mexico
Festival International du Film d’Animation d’Annecy 2022, Annecy, France
Festival International de Contis 2022, Contis, France
ShortFest – Palm Springs International Film Festival 2022, Palm Springs, USA
Fest Anča – International Animation Festival 2022, Žilina, Slovakia
CinemAmbiente – Environmental Film Festival 2022, Torino, Italy
15th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR 2022, Poznań, Poland
SiciliAmbiente – Festival di documentari, cortometraggi e animazioni 2022, San Vito lo Capo, Italy
San Giò Verona Video Festival 2022, Verona, Italy
Hiroshima Animation Season 2022, Hiroshima, Japan
Krakow Green Film Festival 2022, Poland 2022 
Rencontres Cinéma de Gindou 2022, Gindou, France
Concorto Film Festival 2022, Pontenure, Italy
Animator Fest – European Youth Festival of Animated Film 2022, Jagodina, Serbia
Rising of Lusitania – AnimaDoc Film Festival 2022, Lodź, Poland
ONE Country ONE Film 2022, Apchat/Issoire, France
Viborg Animation Festival 2022, Viborg, Denmark
StopTrik International Film Festival 2022, Maribor/Łódź, Slovenia/Poland
MANIFEST – Mafra Animation Film Festival 2022, Mafra, Portugal
8th International Short Film Festival SHORT FORM 2022, Belgrade, Serbia
Biennial of Animation Bratislava BAB 2022, Bratislava, Slovakia
48th IFF EKOFILM 2022, Brno, Czechia
17th ANIMEST – Animation Film Festival 2022, Bucharest, Romania
Primaanima – World festival of first animations 2022, Budaors, Hungary
Sedicicorto – International Film Festival 2022, Forli, Italy
Animaphix – Festival Internazionale del Film d’Animazione 2022, Palermo, Italy
Kaohsiung Film Festival 2022, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
CinéOpen – Festival de Cinéma d’Animation de Pontarlier 2022, Pontarlier, France
“TOFUZI” International Animated Film Festival 2022, Tbilisi, Georgia
Festival Jóvenes Realizadores – Granada Film Fest 2022, Granada, Spain
35th Festival du Film de Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux 2022, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, France
Linz International Short Film Festival 2022, Linz, Austria
DOC NYC 2022, New York, USA
CINANIMA – International Animated Film Festival 2022, Espinho, Portugal
Innsbruck Nature Film Festival 2022, Innsbruck, Austria
ANIMAGE – Festival Internacional de Animação de Pernambuco 2022, Recife, Brazil
PÖFF – Black Nights Film Festival 2022, Tallinn, Estonia
LIAF – London International Animation Festival 2022, London, Great Britain
Escales documentaires – International Festival of Creative Documentary Films 2022, La Rochelle, France
MUMIA – Mostra Udigrudi Mundial de Animação 2022, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
DOC-Cévennes – Festival international du documentaire en Cévennes 2022, France
19th ANIMATEKA – International Animated Film Festival 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia

AUTHORS

Director: Joanna Kozuch
Screenplay: Joanna Kozuch, Katarína Moláková
Script Consultants: Phil Parker, Barbora Budinská
Producer: BFILM – Peter Badač
Co-producers: Anima-Pol (PL) – Joanna Wendorff, plackartnyj (PL), TVP (PL), EC1-Lodz (PL), RTVS (SK)
Art Design: Joanna Kozuch
Animation: Marek Jasaň, Joanna Kozuch, Michaela Mašáňová, Agata Mikina, Marta Magnuska, Jolanta Dudzińska, Matej Babic, Michalina Musialik, Justyna Pazdan, Janusz Martyn
Editor: Marek Šulík
Sound Design: Dušan Kozák
Music: Martin Hasák

JOANNA KOZUCH

Joanna (1977) is director, visual artist and animator. She graduated at Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan (PL) and University of Silesia in Katowice (PL). She is also a teacher at Animation department at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she has received her PhD (SK).

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Filmography:

The Game (short animation film,2004)
Fongopolis (short animation film, 2013)
39 Weeks, 6 Days (short animation film, 2017)
Music Box (short animation film, 2019)
Once There Was a Sea… (short animation documentary, 2021)
Once There Was a Sea…: The Story of Aral Sea (short animation documentary, 2021)

GALLERY

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CONTACTS

BFILM_cmyk_priesvitne

Producer
BFILM – Peter Badač
peter(at)bfilm.sk

miyu-distribution

Festivals
MIYU distribution – Luce Grosjean
festival(at)miyu.fr

miyu-distribution

Sales
MIYU distribution – Luce Grosjean
luce.grosjean(at)miyu.fr

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ONCE THERE WAS A SEA… IN THE SLOVAK CINEMAS

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ONCE THERE WAS A SEA… IN THE SLOVAK CINEMAS

Animated documentary by Joanna Kozuch Once There Was a Sea… will be released in the Slovak cinemas thanks to the distribution company Filmtopia. It will start on October 14, 2021 together with the film by Peter Kerekes 107 Mothers, that has just recently world premiere at IFF Venice. 

Once There Was a Sea… is short animated documentary about the Aral Sea. Most of the changes in climate and landscape in the area of the Aral Sea are the outcomes of one of the worst man-made eco-catastrophes in human history. The Aral Sea is dying. The idea of the film Once there was a sea… came to mind of director Joanna Kozuch during her train trips through the region of Middle Asia in 2008 and 2014. The film is inspired by the place on the borders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and the stories and destinies of the people that she has met when I was exploring the disaster of Aral Sea.

Trailer of the film you can find here.

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MY SUNNY MAAD WILL BE PREMIERED IN SLOVAKIA

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MY SUNNY MAAD WILL BE PREMIERED IN SLOVAKIA AT CINEMATIK IFF

The Czech-French-Slovak film directed by Michaela Pavlátová My Sunny Maad will be presented in the Slovak premiere at the International Film Festival Cinematik in Piešťany. 

My Sunny Maad is the story of Helena alias Herra, a young Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, and decides to move along with him to post-Taliban Afghanistan. Yet she he has no idea what kind of life awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor of the family she is about to integrate into. A liberal grandfather, an adopted child who is highly intelligent and Freshta, who would do anything to escape her husband’s violent grip.

The film will be presented in Slovak cinemas from October 14, 2021 thanks to the distribution company ASFK.

The film My Sunny Maad is the co-production by the Czech Republic, France and Slovakia. The production of the film was financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Film Fund and the grant program of the Council of Europe Eurimages.

The film trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbbTDWDR4j8

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