Sous les pavés, la plage! Ostrava Kamera Oko announces its 14th year

The fourteenth edition of the Czech film festival Ostrava Kamera Oko (OKO) with this year’s theme “Sous les pavés, la plage!” will offer an audiovisual produce from Wednesday 28 September to Sunday 2 October 2022. The films will be screened in the original version with English subtitles.

“During the last year’s OKO, carrying the theme RájPARADISE, we had barely taken a break from the pandemic and war broke out. Ukrainian flags, their colors reminiscent of the beach and the sea, flooded the cities, and one of the slogans of the revolutionary year 1968 came to our minds: “Sous les pavés, la plage!” We therefore take it as our own this year, siding with all those who will not accept aggression and are determined to defend freedom. In it we hear not only an appeal, but also hope and faith in a good ending. We are curious to see how our curators and the audience will perceive it,” says Gabriela Knýblová, festival director.

The programme consists of the Official and Curatorial Selection, the Short Film Competition, and special audiovisual evenings. The screenings will take place in the PLATO Gallery Ostrava and cinemas Minikino, Etáž and the newly opened Municipal Slaughterhouse. Other screening venues that are usually inaccessible to the public will also be open during the festival. In addition to the film programme, Ostrava will also host special thematic events, masterclasses, and an exhibition programme. For professionals, the festival will offer an Industry Programme including location tours.

OKO will continue the tradition of curatorial sections. Czech cinematographer Yvon Teysslerová will let us on to her fascination with poetic black and white cinematic images at OKO. Her short film The Final State of Matter won at OKO 2012 and her film 35mm Miroslav Janek was selected for the Student Academy Awards at FAMU.

Tomáš Slunský from the Gin&Platonic label will introduce the Russian solo artist Vadim Kostrov, who will personally present his autobiographical film Ossen (Autumn, 2022). It is part of a trilogy that will be screened as a whole at OKO in its world premiere. His masterclass will take place at the same time.

Martin Horyna’s curatorial selection (KVIFF) will convince you that the power of fiction does not have to be incompatible with the poignancy of documentary. Edith Jeřábková and Jakub Adamec, curators from the PLATO Gallery, will prepare a sound art intervention for OKO that uses an acoustic model of the new Ostrava concert hall. Journalist Pavel Klusák has prepared an audiovisual event for OKO filled with experimental musicians. Festival guests will have the chance to enjoy community breakfast during the screening of a series of Czechoslovakian educational films about food and nutrition.

Open call for creators entering the competition sections is open until 31 August.