Dear fans of film art,

The contemporary film industry has an American face. In many European countries – and ours is no exception – American production outweighs local production or, more generally, European production. The view on the Czech cinemas program, with a few exceptions in larger cities, speaks for itself.

Given the strength of the American film industry, such a situation is quite natural, but it does not mean that we should not try to do anything about it.

I believe that European film does not have to be a minority, as it is today. I believe that there are enough people who would prefer the diversity of film offerings to monotony – if only they had a choice in our cinemas.

Days of European film provide this opportunity. This year, for the twenty-seventh time, they are offering the audience contemporary European films, that would not otherwise have found their way to most cinemas, not because they are of poor quality, but because the distribution network operates according to slightly different criteria.

Therefore, I wish the organizers of the European Film Festival a happy hand in the selection of films and viewers to be interested in European production and give them enough incentives to think about the contemporary world and perhaps even Europe and its place in it.

Lubomír Zaorálek 
Minister of Culture