The 2022 Sydney Czech and Slovak Film Festival

Sydney Czech & Slovak Film Festival is proud to bring you its 9th film showcase this autumn!
The 5-day event is held in DENDY Newtown from 30th March. The festival features an eclectic mix of recent releases as well as some classic cult films from National Film Archives of both countries. The program includes dramas, thrillers, romances, comedies, documentaries and animations as well as shorts.

All films have English subtitles.

Many of the films will be screened as Australian Premiere.

One of them is the opening movie: Ivan Ostrochovsky‘s acclaimed, award-winning Servants/Služobníci, a black and white probe into the paranoid, late socialist environment of 1980s Czechoslovakia and its uneasy relationship between Catholic Church and the communist regime. The film will open the festival at DENDY Newtown on 30th March.

Another of the highlights this year is shocking Caught in the Net: an alarming documentary about online sexual predators: Three actresses, three children’s rooms, 10 days and 2,458 sexual predators. An experiment that shines an urgent light on the taboo subject of the abuse of children on the internet and what the children aged ten to fourteen years face in virtual space. Three over-18 actresses with very young appearances are tasked with pretending they are 12 years old on fake social network profiles.

Other films not to be missed at the festival include Emma in Love/Chyby a Romantic Australian Premiere about new beginnings of an ex-porn actress. This story of coming to terms with one’s past and forgiveness brings a different view on what love is and what it means to some of us. (THU 31/03/22, 7PM)

The Ear/Ucho a film classic by Karel Kachyna. The master psychological drama, an openly accusing totalitarian regime practice, belongs to the so-called vault films. It was shot in a freer atmosphere in the late 1960s, but the film did not reach the audience until after 1990 because of the censorhip. (SAT 2/04/22, 7 PM)

And of course, there is something for children as well: the award-winning animation Even Mice Belong in Heaven. Almost ten years in the making, this highly original puppet film will enchant young and adult viewers alike with its poignant twisty tale filled with emotion, its beguiling artistic design, and its precise animation. (SAT 2/04/22, 1:30PM)

Each movie is opened by a short film.

For a festive atmosphere and the red carpet don't miss the Opening and Closing nights. (Drinks, nibbles and music!)

For full program visit the Czech and Slovak Film Festival website.