International Film Festival For Children And Youth Zlin

So, you may be saying.....what exactly is a film clapperboard? Well, since the beginning of films, the clapperboard has  been used to visually introduce scenes so that a director and editor can organize their shots. While some prefer the new digital clapperboards, many filmmakers prefer the traditional wooden ones. Not only are a kind of nostalgia for the classic period of cinema but the loud "thwack" they make when they are closed is a sound that technicians, actors and directors hear before the word "Action".

Well, the Zlin Film Festival not only honors the grand tradition of the wooden clapperboard but also invites artists to use them as the medium for their artistic expression. In 1998, the organizers of Zlin Film Festival got the idea to transform the film clapperboard into an artistic work of art and collector's piece. For the occasion of the festival's 38th anniversary, 26 clapperboards were lent to artists from various fields - graphic artists, actors, and filmmakers - and asked them to imprint their own distinctive artistic mark on them. Their works were then put on display for the public during the festival and put up for public auction at the end. Thus originated a tradition that accompanies the festival to this day. 

Since April 27, and for another two weeks, the Mini Salon of Film Clapperboards is on display at the Hybernia Theatre on the Square of the Republic in Prague. On May 20, the exhibition moves to the Galerii pod Radnicí (Gallery Under the Town Hall) in Zlín. During the festival (May 30 - June 5) the Film Clapperboards will take their traditional place within the halls of the Academic Centre of Tomas Bata University, where they will be publicly auctioned on Friday, June  4. The proceeds from the auction are given each year to Film School Zlín. This financial support helps in the completion of selected films made at this school by promising filmmakers.

The artistically rendered clapperboards have not only been admired by visitors to the gallery in Zlín and Prague, but they have also been put on display at many other places, both at home and abroad, including recently in Brussels and Los Angeles. Today the Mini Salon of Film Clapperboards is a prestigious and internationally unique supporting event for the Festival, appreciated not only by locals but also by the attending media and festival guests.

This year, over 138 of these artistic clapperboards will be on display. Last year the public auction generated ally rendered claof Zlín's festival. It is now looked forward to with considerable interest by the media, guests, audiences and collectors of fine art. The number of clapperboards on display since 1998 has increased many times over, and its proceeds have also grown. Last year there were 138 on display. They were publicly auctioned off for a record-breaking amount of CZK 2,735,000 (USD $135,000).

Who knew film clapperboards could be so much fun?

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor