National Competition 1

For the past several years, the National Competition has presented audiences the best that domestic cinema has to offer. This year’s three blocks boast a total of fifteen films, a number which not only reflects the fact that Pragueshorts has recently opened itself up to animated and documentary works but that also shows the earnest joy felt by the programming team at the quality of the submissions.

Czech short film enjoyed a number of foreign successes in 2023. The third block in the National Competition presents Petr Pylypčuk’s Eighth Day, which was shown at last year’s Cannes Film Festival; Philippe Kastner’s touching tale of accepting death, Dede Is Dead, which captivated audiences at the Berlinale; and Pegah Ahangarani’s personal documentary My Father, which won an award at the world’s largest documentary film festival, IDFA. And for comedy and light-hearted humor, stick around for Nikulás Tumi Hlynsson’s stylized Blue Boy and Lukáš Masner’s unique Czech-Greenlandic co-production The Price of a Story.

The three-member international jury will present an award for Best Czech Film, which comes with a financial reward of 2,000 euros and may also award a Special Jury Mention. The director of the winning film will also receive in-kind funding from post-production companies Beep and PFX for their next project.