phooto: partnership agreement ceremony

The Seoul International Family Film Festival (SIFFF, www.sifff.org) was represented during the signing by its director Bae Yong-Kook and Film Festival Zlín (www.zlinfest.cz) confirmed the validity of the agreement with the signature of its artistic director Petr Koliha. The ceremonial signing which took place on October 30, 2009, was attended, along with Petr Koliha, by Ambassador of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Olša, jr. In his speech he indicated that the agreement between the two festivals was a model of mutually enriching co-operation. "Till now a lot of mutual cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea has been based mainly on the import of Korean technology, e.g. cars," stated Jaroslav Olša, jr., who with pleasure add, "now we balance this out by giving Korea the cultural know-how of the oldest film festival for children and youth in the world!"

In his speech Petr Koliha stated that both festivals will swap not only Czech and Korean films. According to him, co-operation between the SIFFF and Film Festival Zlín will be a hub between the world of festivals in Europe and Asia. The organizers of SIFFF have also expressed interest in the exhibition on life and work of famous Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman, which has just finished its first stop on its world tour in New York. Petr Koliha said that the exhibition could come to Seoul in a year for SIFFF. Likewise, there may be a section dedicated to Korean cinematography at the 51st Film Festival Zlín. He further stated that everything is only under negotiation right now, of course.

The renown of both film festivals is evidenced by the fact that the ceremonial signing of the agreement was witnessed by world-renowned film personalities. Among others there were the American Randal Kleiser (the director of the cult film Grease) and the famous Danish director Nils Malmros.

A few Czech films were shown during this year´s SIFFF, and Petr Koliha also sat in the jury of the main competition of the Seoul International Family Film Festival.

Organizers of SIFFF will definitely take part also in the forthcoming 50th International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín in June 2010. This festival will get a great deal of attention from the media, the film public and movie enthusiasts from all over the world. This is because it's celebrating its big fiftieth birthday next year, which will be reflected in the festival program. Firstly, there's the one-hundredth anniversary of Karel Zeman's birth and there's also the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of other Czechoslovak Oscar-winning filmmaker, Elmar Klos, who was closely connected to Zlín's studios half a century ago. In addition, it has been seventy years since the predecessor of Zlín's film festival took place - The Film Harvest. All this and much more is being prepared by the organizers of Film Festival Zlín so that its big 50th anniversary can pay tribute to Czech, Slovak, and Czechoslovak cinematography.