The film won the Audience Award and also the International festival jury Award of Merit. The RCPTM Award (Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials) to the best international science documentary was given to the British documentary The Hole: Apocalypse Avoided focusing on scientists trying to protect the Earth from harmful UV radiation. According to the jury, the film, which encourages to fight not only global warming, was successful thanks to the brilliantly narrated complex topics in a broad historical, scientific, and political context.
The innogy Award to the Best Czech & Slovak Science Documentary Film was won by the experimental film llllllIIIIl (the title translated from programming language means “2017”) by a young Czech director Petr Salaba. The poetic sci-fi documentary about the artificial intelligence was praised by the filmmaker Steve Lichtag, one of the jury of the Czech & Slovak Competition, as “a progressive, youthful film that exceeds boundaries of the genre very boldly”.
The underwater filmmaker Lichtag, creator of documentaries about the great white shark and life in the ocean, and the non-governmental organisation Ocean Ark Alliance, the leading platform for the ocean, its life, and corals protection and understanding, received the Award for Personal Contribution to the Science Popularisation. The prominent representatives of the organisation, documentarists Peter Simon and Peter West, paid tribute to the deceased Rob Stewart. This filmmaker created a famous documentary Sharkwater, which shook the world of illegal sharks hunting and sale of shark fins to the Asian market. Crowded Metropol Cinema held a one-minute silence prior to the film projection while remembering one of the most significant shark activists. It was undoubtedly one of the most powerful moments of the whole Festival.
AFO achieved one of its heights; the event was visited by 7.105 spectators including 500 Czech and foreign guests. The Festival has completely fulfilled its philosophy as an actively rousing platform that has its own opinion. For the first time of its history, the Festival became a manifesto to protect Earth and the life in the ocean. Some films and speeches of the guests were so powerful that the audience was deeply touched and moved to be active, involved and interested in various matters. The potential is huge and other goals of the Festival are shaping up.
The photographs of the Festival can be downloaded freely.
The general partner of the Academia Film Olomouc Festival is innogy.
The main sponsor of the Festival is the Neuron Benevolent Fund for Support of Science.
The main media partner is the Czech Television.
The overview of the 53rd International Festival of science documentary films Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) awards:
- RCPTM Award to the Best International Science Documentary Film: The Hole: Apocalypse Avoided
- innogy Award to the Best Czech & Slovak Science Documentary Film: llllllIIIIl
- The Best Science Documentary Short Film Award: Desolation Follows
- AFO53 Audience Award: Jane
- The Palacký University Student Jury Award: Earth: One Amazing Day
- Personal Contribution to the Science Popularisation Award: Steve Lichtag
- Contribution to the Science Popularisation Award – Institution: Ocean Ark Alliance
- The Palacký University Student Jury Award of Merit: David Attenborough’s Light on Earth
- International Competition Jury Award of Merit: Jane
- Short Film Competition Jury Award of Merit: HYBRIDS, LEO80
