2019 SFS Guests

Hynek Bočan

There is an iconic photo of the main representatives of the Czechoslovak New Wave where Bočan’s smile shines the brightest. Everybody knows the names like Forman, Chytilová or Menzel, yet Bočan was also an important member of this movement. His work was closely connected with the Czechoslovak Television, he made a number of TV series (Mystery of the Conundrum or The Land Gone Wild) and maintained a consistently high quality of his films (Private Torment, Honour and Glory, Give the Devil His Due, Boomerang).

Milan Lasica

A man of many professions known for his skilful use of language, ironic perspective and multi-layered statements. A terse style, fully focused on content, precise with story points. Loved by audiences, respected by critics. For many years, he performed with Julius Satinský, wrote a number of books, theatre plays and song lyrics. His intellectual style of acting can be seen in many films (The Sweet Games of Last Summer, The Three Veterans or Run, He Is Coming).

Lech Majewski

Lech Majewski is a Polish film director, writer, poet and painter. The films of this truly Renaissance artist combine the film’s aesthetic with fine art and poetry. He lives alternatively in Poland and the United States but shoots all over the world. Besides directing his films, he often takes charge of production, screenwriting, editing or filming. At the SFS, Majewski will introduce a representative selection from his unique works.

Aleksey German Jr.

Alexej German Jr. (born in 1976) is a Russian film director and an important personality of Russian cinema. His films capture critical turning points in social climate as well as some historical milestones. They got famous for their uniquely refined imagery and are regularly premiered in Berlin or Venice. German’s film Paper Soldier won a Silver Lion for Best Director and his most successful film Dovlatov has been screened all over the world.

Cătălin Mitulescu

Mitulescu was born in Bucharest, he graduated from the UNATC and is best known for his short film Trafic, which won him the Palme d’Or and for the debut feature The Way I Spent the End of the World, which was screened at the 2006 festival. Mitulescu is one of the main representatives of the Romanian New Wave, contributing as a director, screenwriter and producer. SFS will screen all of his short and feature-length movies.

Christian Berger

Christian Berger is an Austrian cinematographer mostly known for his six works with Michael Haneke. Berger invented the Cine Reflect Lighting System which he introduced at the SFS in 2009. In this year’s masterclass, he will talk about the specifics of work with Michael Haneke and the visual development of his films.

Marika Green

Marika Green was born in 1943 in Stockholm. In 1953, her family moved to France and Marika made her first acting appearance in Bresson’s Pickpocket. She did some more acting in the following decades, became a fashion model and a photographer. Marika Green is coming to the SFS to present her photo exhibition called Green / Photographic Memories.

Adam Sikora

Adam Sikora is a renowned Polish cameraman. He created a large number of breath-taking film images for Polish filmmakers – Lech Majewski (Wojaczek, Angelus, The Mill and the Cross), Piotr Dumala (The Forest, Ederly) or Jerzy Skolimowski (Four Nights with Anna, Essential Killing), but he is also known for his remarkable collaboration on several Czech movies. He was awarded the Czech Critics’ Prize for I, Olga Hepnar and the Czech Lion for David Ondříček’s drama In the Shadow. Sikora is also a film director and at this year’s SFS, he will personally present his latest film Outsider.

Wojciech Smarzowski

One of the most recognizable personalities of contemporary Polish cinema. All of Smarzowski’s films got the highest local audience scores and numerous prizes and four of them won him Polish film award Orly for Best Director. His latest movie, The Clergy, was attended by over 5 million people. Wojciech Smarzowski and screenwriter Wojciech Rzehak are coming to present this film, which was only scarcely screened in Czech theatres, to this year’s SFS audience.

Milko Lazarov

Milko Lazarov is a Bulgarian film director born in 1967. He graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA) in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he studied in the class of Prof. Vladislav Ikonomov. He was a lecturer in NATFA’s film department. His feature debut Alienation premiered and was awarded at Venice 70’ in the official selection of Venice Days. His second movie Ága premiered at Berlinale competition. Summer Film School will host Lazarov within the Terra Festivalis section. He is going to talk about his films Ága and Glory, where he also appeared as an actor.

Alfred Jokesch

Alfred Jokesch is an Austrian film publicist and a curator of this year’s section Icon: Michael Haneke. Jokesch is also a Catholic priest in Graz so we can expect some theological context, too. In his SFS lecture, he will address the motives of violence and alienation in Haneke’s works.

Michel Marie

Michel Marie is Professor Emeritus at the Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 University where he lectured from 1972 to 2011. His main focus was on film aesthetics and theory, film analysis and the history of French cinema. He is an author of the first comprehensive study on the French New Wave “The French New Wave: An Artistic School” and several books about Jean-Luc Godard’s work. He has been a commissioning editor of the Cinema and Visual Arts collection at Armand Colin since 1988.

Marek Kuboš

Kuboš got into documentary filmmaking along with Marek Škop, Robert Kirchhoff or Peter Kerekes in the 1990s but his first feature-length film was not finished until the last year. His art career, full of groping, doubts and extraordinary sensitivity is traced in The Last Self-Portrait that won him an annual Slovak prize for the best documentary.