Approximately 2-hours long program contains “at least 17” official and fan-created short films. Among the authors there are well-known independent directors such as John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus), Alma Har’el (music videos for Beirut), or Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop). The idea of the project is not to reject interpretations of the album, but to give space and freedom to the others who might be inspired by it and who continue in artistic creation.

Second competitive section Cinematik.doc is designed for Slovak feature-length documentary films released between September 2011 and September 2012. Film Europe Award goes to The Bells of Happiness (Zvonky šťastia) by Marek Šulík and Jana Bučka. It is a documentary with social undertone about two Roma cousins who admire Karel Gott and Dara Rolins so they decide to send them DVD with Roma remix of their hit-single Zvonky šťastia.

Award of the Mayor of the Town of Piešťany goes to …I Don’t Think I Will Return (…Myslím, že sa nevrátim). The debut of Paula Sisková was shot during the pilgrimage to Spanish Santiago de Compostela. It records a one-thousand-kilometer journey of four women which is full of joy, sorrow and suffering.

Audience Award goes to Roman Polanski’s Carnage. It is a drama about two couples whose kids fought on local playground and they try to solve the problem at the dinner.

is a critic and lecturer at University of Debrecen. She has served in several FIPRESCI juries. She is a programme advisor for the Titanic IFF, Budapest.

Films in this year’s competition Cinematik.doc were quite different from each other. Is it even possible to compare them and find the best one?

They were all different. They all had different approaches to the documentary genre and to their subject matters. This variety made them even more interesting to watch. However, I do not think that this diversity made the comparison or the decision making more difficult, as there are some ground rules that apply or should apply to documentaries regardless of their styles or subject matters. And, of course, in finding the best one, personal taste matters too. It is a factor that cannot be eliminated from the decision making process. However professional and objective we the jury members strive to be, I am sure we all have our personal favorites that are, for one reason or another, got particularly close to our hearts.

Which attributes are important for you while watching documentary films? Is it topic, originality, touch of reality…?

A bit of everything. All elements that you have mentioned matter and of course, the way these elements are combined count too. It is also essential for a documentary to say something important or valuable, to deliver the message it sets out to deliver at the beginning. Most importantly, it should be engaging. Even if a documentary is not fully original it can still engage the viewer with its visual style or with its subject matter.

There is generation of young Hungarian filmmakers who gain attention of Europe. What about documentary filmmakers?

There are some interesting directors, but for documentaries it is much more difficult to cross borders and gain international recognition. I think it is true for any countries. A recent success, Csak a szél (Just the Wind) by Bence Fliegauf is a good example of a drama combined with elements of a documentary. The story is inspired by true events and most of the characters played by nonprofessional actors, but the narrative structure of the film is closer to a thriller. The combination of the documentary style and the intensity of a thriller have made it such a big international success.

is a critic who has been writing reviews and articles for the most prominent Polish magazines and film portals. In 2009, he won a national competition for young film critics. At Cinematik he is a member of MPE and Cinematik.doc jury.

As a critic do you often write about documentary films?

Not so often, as I would like to. But that’s because good documentaries rarely make it into wider distribution. In Poland only few percent of them make it. But I like thinking and writing about documentaries – those films have different dynamics and often are intellectually more interesting than features, so it is very important for me to write something on documentaries from time to time.

Films in this year’s competition Cinematik.doc were quite different from each other. Is it even possible to compare them and find the best one?

Yes, because even very different films often share the same ground. But it’s up to you, to define this share ground, and it could be thought of in very different ways. For instance, very important in documentaries is something, that you could call the ethics of documentary: documentary shows us some problem, fascinating story, tries to move or entertain us. Questions are: how those goals are achieved, is it by the way of exploiting the problem and people involved or not? What about stereotypes about problem shown on screen – are they surpassed by the film, or the contrary – enforced by it?  Are the makers trying to force us to question something, or they offer us some ideological pleasure of confirming what we already think about the thing shown in the films. Of course, there are hundreds of questions like that, and some of them always will be relevant with any documentary, that you watch.

Which attributes are important for you while watching documentary films?

I think, that there is no one element. I try to perceive documentary film as a whole: I mean, that the most important thing is the overall tone of the film, or the overall impression, that it offers to you. It has very much to do with the questions I mentioned answering your previous question – something I would, very provisionally, call the ethics of documentary film is the most important thing.

As a critic from abroad can you see some tendencies in contemporary Slovak documentary cinema?

I can judge only from films that I watched as a member of this year’s competition jury and I saw mainly the diversity of Slovak documentary. I saw very solid political documentary, interesting case of metaphysical cinema, and some examples of classic documentary genres, for instance “humanistic film”.  And the diversity is crucial for documentary to remain vivid and interesting.  As a person from abroad though, I would very like to see more documentary films oriented toward social and political problems, as they give me chance to get to know more about things that are important and maybe difficult in contemporary Slovakia.

Československý film /Pastiersky film

Director: Štefan Belička, Ivan Kršiak
Screenplay: Ivan Kršiak, Štefan Belička, Ľubomír Viluda, Eduard Kelčík
Cinematography: Štefan Belička
Editing: Ivan Kršiak
Music: Kayhan Kalhor

Alfred Hitchcock and the Road Trip to Iran is a mocumentary about human prejudices about the magical world of ancient Persia. Different values, different concepts of time and place, on the same planet. The desire for power and absolute control in representations of two worlds. Cherché le atomic bomb!

FDU AKU Banská Bystrica

Director: Marek Janičík
Screenplay: Marek Janičík
Cinematography: Peter Kováč
Editing: Marek Janičík
Music: Marek Pivoluska, Matej Štesko

This documentary tells us the story of one of the last village cinemas in Slovakia. Real life stories and memories of local villagers give us a look into the history of this cinema and show us its importance. Even though the cinema has been a significant part of the village for over half a century, the villagers will have to say their last goodbyes. The trigger in this scenario is the digitalization of cinemas in Slovakia. Očová village decided not to take part in this action. Unfortunatelly, this sends their cinema to its death. Will the last goodbye be marked by sadness or pride?