Festival francúzskych filmov sa začal v piatok 21.novembra v Trenčíne. Podujatie otvorila dráma režiséra Amosa Gitaia Jedného dňa pochopíš. Film vo veľkej sále trenčianskeho Domu armády osobne uvediedol jeho scenáristka Marie José Sanselme. Festival sa následne presunie do ArtKina Metro na Mierovom námestí, kde od soboty do štvrtka 27. novembra uvedie deväť celovečerných francúzskych filmov v sekcii Nový francúzsky film a tri diela v sekcii Hommage: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Medzi filmami je aj snímka Eldorado, ktorá získala dve ceny na tohtoročnom festivale v Cannes a je nominovaná na Oscara. V poradí siedmy ročník festivalu organizuje mesto Trenčín a jeho družobné francúzske mesto Cran-Gevrier v spolupráci s medzinárodným filmovým festivalom Artfilm, Francúzskym inštitútom v Bratislave a Slovenským filmovým ústavom. Riaditeľom festivalu je Peter Hledík. Festival budú dopĺňať sprievodné podujatia ako koncerty, výstavy, vystúpenia a happeningy s účasťou francúzskych umelcov z Cran-Gevrier.

This year’s 16^th Annual Artfilm International Film Festival took place from 27 June to 6 July in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín.  Altogether, 27 142 visitors and 156 registered journalists attended the festival and its accompanying events.  Film fans were able to see a total of 185 short and feature-length fiction, documentary, and animated films.  In addition to the three competition sections – the Main Competition, the Eastern Panorama, and the Competition of Shorts – Artfilm also presented the overview New Chinese Film, the traditional Panorama section of hot new releases, a selection of Slovak and Czech students’ films entitled Yin and Young, and a collection of documentary films.  The section of films supported by Rottderdam’s Hubert Bals Fund offered a collection of films that was one-of-a-kind for Central and Eastern Europe.

The sixteenth annual Artfilm International Film Festival, which has taken place in Trenčín and Trenčianske Teplice from 27 June – 6 July 2008, has offered audiences altogether 185 short and feature-length, fiction, documentary, and animated films from every continent in the world. In four festival cinemas and the touring Bažant Cinematograph, over 190 screenings have taken place. New at this year’s Artfilm was the tented Tatra Banka Cinema in Trenčianske Teplice. Students who registered in advance were able to attend the festival’s events free of charge. More than 150 journalists registered at the festival.

Scandinavia hasn’t had such a famous actress since Greta Garbo’s era.  She has won an abundance of awards for her acting mastery (the Golden Globe, David di Donatello, Oscar nomination, European Film Award).  Today she will add the Actor’s Mission Award.  At 3:30 pm, Liv Ullmann will affix a brass plaque bearing her name to the Bridge of Fame. “I am not an icon,” retorts the Norwegian actress when complimented.  She is the star of the films Persona, Face to Face, Hour of the Wolf, Shame, A Passion, Whispers and Cries, and Scenes from a Marriage.  After success onstage, she began her film career at the end of the 1950s, first with episodic roles, which were soon followed by lead roles entrusted by Ingmar Bergman.  “For the first time I met a film director who allowed me to uncover my feelings and thoughts which no one else could recognize.  A director who patiently listened with his index finger on his temple and understood everything that I wanted to express.  A genius, who created an environment in which anything could happen – even that which I didn’t know about myself,“ writes Ullmann in her autobiography Changing from 1976.