The 11th International Film Festival Bratislava reveals the main highlights of its programme.

New talents and renowned filmmakers. Timeless thematic and new points of view. Discoveries and rediscoveries. Visitors of the 11th International Film Festival Bratislava will have the opportunity to watch feature films, documentaries and short films presenting what nowadays drives the world cinema. UniCredit Bank Slovakia a.s. became the official general partner of IFF Bratislava for next 4 years.

Competitions, Panorama, Focus. The three main parts of IFF Bratislava preserve the best from the past years of the festival; at the same time there are some new elements in the programme. A significant characteristic of the 11th IFF Bratislava programme is the important number of documentaries.

This year's Competitions will introduce, besides First and second feature films Competition, a Documentaries Competition and Shorts Competition. Each competition will have its own jury. Matthieu Darras, artistic director of the festival, reasoned the competition of documentaries as an aim to fulfil a gap in Slovak distribution. The selection focused on films which are inventive and keep up with the times, and at the same time present current issues of countries of their origin.

Shorts Competition allows full play for new young and talented filmmakers. Individual shorts will be projected before feature films of the sections of first and second feature competition. The spectators will then be able to see two movies with just one ticket. Six of the shorts will be internationally premiered at IFF Bratislava. The choice of movies from all around the world involves various genres. There are romantic stories, social dramas, classic processing, and animated as well as experimental films.

Panorama and Focus have an ambition to satisfy the audience who want to see the movies awarded at prestigious festivals, the latest works by renowned filmmakers and popular film stars, as well as those who like to be surprised, according to Matthieu Darras, the festival's artistic director.

Therefore Golden Panorama will present films which have been awarded at festivals in Cannes, Venice, Sundance, San Sebastian, and so on. For example, the Cannes Grand Prize winner, A Prophet by Jacques Audiard, shall not be missed. The spectators can look forward to watching a new piece by Michael Moore, Capitalism: A Love Story in which the director makes "his Americans" face an unpleasant mirror. A French legend, Patrice Chéreau, will deliver his brilliant play of human relations in Persecution. A list of directors introduced in Golden Panorama who have been a guarantee of quality continues with names such as Fatih Akin, Cristian Mungiu, or Coens brothers.

Panorama Special is a display of various specific genres. Playful Bollywood films, blaxploitation stories, as well as crime films from Hong Kong. The spectators will not miss their popular musical films. The silver screen will be ruled by the legend of Patti Smith, as well as the group Talking Heads.

Cutting Edge is a traditional section introducing movies made by independent productions which look for new forms of cinematography languages to narrate their stories. The various films selection offers titles such as Police, adjective, second film by brilliant Romanian director Cornelia Porumboiu who won the prize Un Certain Regard in Cannes. Cutting Edge is dedicated to innovative and provocative works.

This year's Focus concentrates notably on Brazil. The section So Much Brazil should particularly point out the multicultural aspect of the country, according to Matthieu Darras, artistic director. "When you hear Brazil, you imagine violence and poverty usually. However, there is a significant artistic and intellectual scene in Brazil", says Darras. The spectators can find various kinds of movies in the colourful mosaic: love stories as well as family dramas, urban movies taking place in Rio or Sao Paulo, as well as many documentaries which explore various problem issues of Brazil nowadays. An emotional movie titled Jean Charles (dir Henrique Goldman), e.g. offers several thematic parallels with the Slovak film Foxes. Particular attention should be paid to musical documentaries. The movies present latest musical trends as well as famous Brazilian performers.

Matter of Taste introduces food as an important part of culture and identity. This section has been created on the basis of a NISI MASA project which has already been surveying films on food for three years. Besides emphasis on the necessity to cherish and transmit a variety of tastes and not to get ruled by feeding standards, the section also introduces several interesting points of view on food industry. For example, introduction of the controversial movie Bananas! (dir Frederik Gertten) on a trial exposing the use of pesticides allegedly causing cancer by the food company Dole will surely draw interest. Italian city Naples is "famous" for problems with their waste dumps. The documentary Biutiful cauntri (dir E. Calabria, A. D´Ambrosio) deals with toxic wastes and their impacts on food we consume.

The section Focus will be complemented with Profiles introducing the French-Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass (starring in Lemon Tree, introduced at last year's IFF Bratislava), the Russian director and producer Karen Shakhnazarov and the American director Jonathan Nossiter, also renowned as wine expert.

The three main elements of the program will be followed by Made in Slovakia, a presentation of Slovak cinema. The 11th year of IFF Bratislava will offer a selection of Slovak movies of all categories which have not been introduced in our cinema distribution yet. Therefore the festival's audience will have the opportunity to see a premiere of Foxes, a movie by Slovak director Mira Fornay to be introduced in the international competition, but as well a documentary titled Erotic Nation (dir Peter Begányi) or a remarkable short film Arsy Versy (dir Miro Remo), for example. There will be another Slovak premiere, namely T.M.A., a thriller with horror elements by director Juraj Herz who will be then honoured with Special Award for artistic achievement in the world cinema at IFF Bratislava.

This year again, the festival will get several interesting special guests whose names should attract cinema fans; the special guests are going to personally introduce their films. An interesting one, among others, will surely be the visit of Israeli family duo, father and son, with their documentary The Worst Company in the World (dir Regev Contes) introduced in the section Documentaries Competition. The director's father, Karol Contes, comes from Bratislava and is looking forward to seeing his city of origin again.

This year's IFF Bratislava is going to extent the number of festival days in Banská Bystrica and Košice. Local spectators will have the opportunity to spend three festival days there and personally meet the members of international jury. In Banská Bystrica you can enjoy the festival's atmosphere, particularly of the Shorts Competition, in Europa Cinemas from Nov 28th to Nov 30th 2009. Košice will welcome the festival days from Dec 1st to Dec 3rd 2009; the Documentaries Competition will be introduced in two local cinemas of Cinemax complex; the opening ceremony in the Old City Hall will also premiere a new Slovak documentary - the road movie Little Violent Robinson (dir Tina Diosi).

Again, the festival's programme will offer many accompanying events, meetings and discussions with filmmakers. Certainly, you cannot miss the popular Slipper Night loved by spectators; film professionals can enjoy the sequel of International Workshop Strategic Film Marketing II. and discussion forum Slovak Films Around the World coorganize with Slovak Film Institute and Slovak Film and Television Academy.

For the 5th year already a night ceremony complemented with Kinema Film of the year 2009 will take place.

After emotional film experiences the spectators and visitors can enjoy and relax at After-parties in Nu Spirit Club.

For more information on the festival, please visit our website http://www.iffbratislava.sk/

11th International Film Festival Bratislava

November 27th - December 4th 2009

PALACE CINEMAS, Aupark, Einsteinova ul.

KINO MLADOSŤ, Hviezdoslavovo nám. 17

DPOH Mestské divadlo, Laurinská 1

Festival days:

Europa Cinemas, BANSKÁ BYSTRICA November 28th - November 30th 2009

Cinemax, KOŠICE December 1st - December 3rd 2009