This week, the 65th BRNO16 International Film Festival kicks off at Kino Art, with the theme of “someBODY to love”. The festival will feature an international short film competition, together with a packed accompanying program focused on film and gaming. The five-day event will culminate on the evening of Saturday, 5 October, when the winning films of this jubilee edition will be announced.
“This year, BRNO16 celebrates 65 years since its foundation, which is truly impressive,” said Brno Mayor Marketa Vankova, who is once again the patron of Brno’s oldest film festival. “Since its early days, when most films were presented in the 16mm format — as still reflected in its name — it has come a long way. Today, it is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world and holds an essential place in the exceptionally event-packed calendar of Brno’s audiovisual enthusiasts.”
The shorts included in the festival program come in various forms and genres, and range from student films to experimental and independent works. Out of more than 1,000 submissions, the five-member dramaturgical team selected 34 short films to be featured in the international competition, along with 13 films for the Czechoslovak 16 competition. In addition to their short runtime, the common theme of these short films is that they were released recently: only films under three years old can participate. The final selection, divided up for audiences into nine one-hour blocks, offers a diverse and engaging lineup of films from film-making teams from all over the world. These teams will be present at the festival, and will engage with visitors through Q&A sessions after screenings and a discussion on Saturday.
Saturday also marks the symbolic closing of BRNO16: “In addition to the discussion with the film-makers, we are also hosting the festival’s closing ceremony,” said festival director Milan Šimánek. “Throughout the festival, audiences have the opportunity to vote for the films they liked the most, and thus appreciate their creators. The film with the most votes will receive the Audience Award, which comes with a cash prize. The visitors of BRNO16 are the largest jury, awarding this special prize.”
As well as the audience, the films will also be judged by the main jury, the student jury, and the jury for the Czechoslovak 16. The winning films will be announced on Saturday, 5 October, at 8pm in Velký Sál (the Large Hall) of Kino Art during the closing ceremony, followed by a repeat screening. This screening will be shown again on Sunday, 6 October, the final day of the festival.
Besides the competitions, the 65th BRNO16 festival will also offer an accompanying program, centred around the theme “someBODY to love”. The theme references the need for love while also highlighting the concept of the body in various contexts, such as body positivity, body commodification, and body depiction in art films.
This theme will be explored through a selection curated by Radu Sticlea from the Portuguese BEAST festival. A retrospective block of amateur films will showcase the depiction of the body and love in Czech film history. The artist and university lecturer Kateřina Olivová, along with other guests, will address this topic from an academic perspective during a lecture. The MTJM organisation will offer an educational perspective in the workshop ‘My Body Is Mine: The Subject of Body and Soul’ that will focus on body-shaming.
In collaboration with the MIDPOINT Institute and KUMST Brno, the festival will also offer an industry programme, open not just to professionals. On Thursday, 3 October, the programme will include a lecture on co-production from the film-makers’ perspective, titled ‘The Do’s and Dont’s of Co-Production’, presented by Hungarian producer Doya Nedeczky from Tallinn. Friday continues with a discussion, ‘From Script to Screen: The Art of Safe Intimacy in Film and TV’ with Virginija Vereikytė, an intimacy coordinator who ensures boundaries and the well-being of actors during the filming of intimate scenes.
A gaming program, curated by the Gamer Pie festival, will also be featured, including the silver screen debut of the short film ‘Yötön Yö’. The Czech premiere of this film from the game Alan Wake II will take place on Friday, 4 October. The gaming program will also include a live playthrough of the gamebook ‘House of Hell’, accompanied by live music from the Sukuba Ensemble. The festival’s theme, “someBODY to love,” will then echo in a lecture followed by a gaming quiz and a gameplay session as well as a lecture on Dating Simulators with Painappuru Project Studio.
The full programme is available online at www.brno16.cz. Accreditation for the entire festival can be purchased online or at the Kino Art box office.Tickets for individual programme blocks will also be on sale directly before the screenings at the festival venues.
BRNO16 is organised by TIC BRNO, via Kino Art. Brno Daily is a media partner of the BRNO16 International Film Festival.
