International Competition 3

The International Competition of the 20th anniversary edition of the Pragueshorts film festival presents twenty-eight films made with the involvement (thanks to international co-productions) of twenty-three countries. The participating films by new filmmakers as well as familiar names cover a range of current issues, contemporary trends, and innovative stylistic approaches. Presented in five blocks, they introduce audiences to the cinematic output of countries that only rarely make it into Czech cinemas – from Estonia and South Africa all the way to Brazil and Cambodia.

The Czech entry in this year’s International Competition, Orla, is a slightly different tale of an emancipated servant. Two ghosts take us to a burning planet full of emotions and hopelessness in the Portuguese film Arguments in Favor of Love. In the documentary l’Mina, we travel with a group of miners down into a Moroccan mine. Lithuania’s Left-Handed Pen follows a woman who has to make the nerve-racking decision whether to act as a teacher or as a mother. And Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites invites us to Cambodia, where the ghost of Grandma Nai reappears in order to help her grandson accept himself as who he is.

English spoken or English subtitled screening. Suitable both for English speaking viewers and Czech viewers alike.