AFO Saturday: The Penultimate Festival Day, Still Going Strong

Even among wreaths from big film festivals, it would be hard to think of a better recommendation than the winner of Sundance. And that title belongs to Nuisance Bear, an unparalleled testimony about the coexistence of humans and polar bears. The A24 studio’s cinematographic masterpiece that contemplates the possibilities as well as the limits of cohabitation of different species will be screened from 11.00 a.m. at the Sedmička Hall as part of the International Competition. Offering the newest and the most innovative contemporary science documentary films, the International Competition continues at 1.00 p.m. at the Metropol Cinema with Out of Plain Sight. This alarming investigative documentary focuses on the events following the disposal of an enormous amount of nuclear waste on the coast of California. Reporter Rosanna Xia shows how this affects people’s health even now. Co-director Daniel Straub will join the debate.

And if you want to depart international waters for the local stream for a moment, you can remain seated at Metropol. Starting at 3.30 p.m., the screening of Vojtěch Klinger’s short film The Cost of Convenience will take place as part of AFO’s Czech & Slovak Competition. AI’s presence in intimate lives of the present-day population is not only the subject of the film, however, but also the follow-up debate that will be attended by a delegation of four co-creators as part of the world premiere.

But of course, AFO is not only about films, so in case you want to interrupt the flood of audiovisual experiences with a podcast, let’s say, definitely go for Studio N LIVE: The Origin Stories of Czech Scandals. The episode will be hosted by Filip Titlbach with investigative journalist Zdislava Pokorná and reporter Lukáš Prchal as his guests, providing an exceptionally valuable insight into the current state of Czech investigative journalism.

And a true archival speciality is prepared for the audience at the Corpus Christi Chapel from 8.30 p.m. The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924 is a period film documenting the first Winter Olympics, which back then were not even called that. The Winning Culture section brings a unique account of the birth of this global phenomenon, with its most recent appearance still etched into our memory. This will be commented on during the following debate by Vojtěch Jírovec, an author of many sport podcasts and external editor for the Czech Radio.

No matter what programme section you pick for the weekend climax of Academia Film Olomouc, enjoy the special atmosphere of this festival – a union of audiovisual media and science which has been lighting up the Hanakian capital for the last 61 years.