This year’s 59th edition of the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) film festival already knows the winner. Films about DNA, sex education, or a film about the importance of woodpeckers dominated the four competition categories with the fifth Audience Award. One of the images won in three categories. This year’s AFO will close with Sunday screenings.
The jury of the International Competition decided to award both the main prize and a special recognition. You took the picture The hunt for the oldest DNA (Hunt for the Oldest DNA). Exploring the fascinating genetic information that can help us uncover the secrets of our past and present, the film is a modern popularization film full of visual features that bring the film’s formal side to life. The film won the main prize Woodpeckers: Noisy neighbors (Woodpeckers: The Hole Story). Exploring the importance of woodpeckers in a global context is an extraordinarily colorful experience that shows the possibilities of contemporary wildlife documentary in all its glory.
Two films were also awarded in the Czech-Slovak competition. The progressive, even experimentally tuned film received special recognition Notes from the Eremocene (Notes from Eremocene), which was filmed by one of the most interesting contemporary Slovak filmmakers, Viera Čákanyová. In the film, which is conceived as a message from the future to the current generation, he debates with his virtual future self about what we have done wrong as humanity and how we can learn from it. The prize for the best Czech-Slovak popular science film was then won by the playful global home essay George’s vision (The World According to My Dad) directed by Marta Kovářová. In it, she follows her father, scientist Jiří Svoboda, who is trying to promote the concept of a global carbon tax. And he makes this environmental theme special with playful songs and intergenerational dialogue that most audiences can relate to.
Two films can also celebrate in the Short Competition. A progressive video game short Hardworking (Hardly Working) earned special recognition. It focuses on NPCs, or non-player characters in video games, which players often take for granted as a necessity and filler in virtual worlds. Here they are put in the spotlight. The award for the best short popular science film then goes to the film Gety abortions (Gety abortions). The analysis of the media image of people who have experienced abortion deals with various media sources both from the past and the present, and with an overview, it reflects on what the media representation of this topic is and what results from it.
Then there are also films awarded by a student jury. Special recognition goes to the competition film Let’s talk about sex – one hundred years of sex education (Let’s Talk About Sex – A Century of Sex Education). The film opens up the important topic of the stigmatization of sex in upbringing and education and reflects on where we have moved since the 20th century and where we can still move. And while in the International Competition you film The hunt for the oldest DNA (Hunt for the Oldest DNA) received special recognition, in this category he takes home the main prize of the student jury of Palacky University in Olomouc.
And the same film can tick off a third triumph – it also won the AFO Audience Award, awarded with the support of Czech Television. Three laurels from Academia Film Olomouc in just one year!
