Albanian cinematography is not the best known in the world so to meet an Albanian director and have a chance to talk to him is very useful thing.We have met Fatmir Koci, well established and very likeable film maker from Tirana on Zlín film festival and he was pleasure to talk to.

This Dutch actor was born in 1944 to the family of well known impressionist painter.He studied acting on Amsterdam Academy of dramatic Art. His first big chance was offered to him by friend, director Paul Verhoeven in film “Soldier of Orange”. Since that time he makes at least one film a year, sometimes more.He broke into Hollywood and acted in box office hits such as “James Bond” or “Fugitive” where Harrison Ford was his partner. Jeroen is very versatile artist who spreads his talent among acting, directing and painting. We sent him questions by post to which he duly responded and we also met him at FebioFest in Prague 2015 where he was super friendly. Despite his fame he is down to earth and honest man and pleasure to deal with.

First moving picture was showed in Estonia already in 1896.First cinema was opened 12 years later in Tallin In 1930 local actress Miliza Korjus was nominated for Academy Award and she had successful career in Hollywood. Later the film was used mainly for propaganda reasons and after the death of Stalin the approach was more liberal but there was still censorship. In 1969 director Grigori Kromanov made a movie “ The Last Relic” which saw in Soviet Union incredible 45 million people. It was showed in more than 60 countries worldwide. After the collapse of Soviet Empire Estonia regained independence but state film funds dried up and cost of making films escalated, which hit rock bottom in 1996 when no film was made in Estonia. Since that time local filmmakers look for co-producers behind the border. At Zlín film festival we met Estonian director of film festival Black Nights Mikk Granström and asked him few questions. He was in a hurry –being a jury member-so his replies were very quick.

Karel Smyzcek was born on 31.3.1950 in Mělník.He made his acting debut in 1959 in film made by Milan Vošmik called “ Zpívající pudřenka” and since he was good, more offfers came later.He attended FAMU (Film and musical academy) and as a director made his debut with film “ Housata”.Almost every year we saw his new film in the cinemas and he created some which became legends such as “ Sněženky a machři.”He devoted his work to children and teenagers. He not only filmed fairytales but was also successfull in TV series.His face can be seen in films practically to these days and he contributed also to document series called “Předčasná úmrtí”, “13. komnata”, “ GEN” and “GENUS”

When we saw the name of this director in the program of Zlín film festival, we thought it could be good to meet him, specially if he is an independent director. He was very friendly an approachable and the interview was agreed on, so it was as easy as that. Cool guy.