The 17th International Festival of Local Televisions, Košice, Slovakia

If Košice is identified as the unofficial centre of European local television, then the other, equally important component of the Festival has also acquired this attribute. Apart from the competitive showing of programmes, the Festival has become a prominent place for obtaining new understanding, new knowledge and the professional development and growth of local television. Behind this aspect it's necessary to see the whole array of professional meetings, workshops, panel discussions and lectures dedicated to professional fine-tuning of television workers, and observance of the principles of journalism ethics. 

The Festival enjoys high prestige even among well-known filmmakers, which is also proven by the fact that last year it presented world and Slovak premieres of films by globally recognised and prize-winning directors. The Košice Festival regularly includes some unique premieres. Of these, we can mention e.g. the world premiere of the documentary by Eugene Chaplin „My Tribute“; the Czechoslovak premiere of the film „Nemilovaní“ (Unloved) by Claude Weisz, native of Košice, which had been ‚locked away‘ in the Barrandov treasury for 25 years; or last year’s Czechoslovak premiere of „Space Tourists“,the documentary by the Swiss Oscar-winning director Christian Frei. The organisers try hard to bring to Košice as many interesting and artistically high-quality film premieres as possible. The Festival will last for 4 days and it runs concurrently with other festival programmes. Each venue in which the Festival will be held, will have its own original dramaturgical plan, which will take into account the specific interests of viewers. Similarly to the previous years, Slovak and especially young authors will be given a chance to present their work. One entire screening day will be devoted to Slovak documentaries. Last year’s plentiful attendance of authors, as well as a number of interesting and fruitful debates with viewers, have inspired the Festival organisers to invite as many filmmakers and film producers as possible to this year’s Festival screenings.

Last year, 17 European countries were represented during the Festival programme along with Slovakia

Winners of each competition section will be announced at the gala Award Ceremony un June 11th, 2011 .The International Jury has 10 members and will decide about the awarded programmes in each section. The Grand Awards „The Golden Beggar“ will be given to an any of the categories which shows a strong journalistic content , an element of originality and clear understanding of the needs of its viewers.The Jury is authorized to award also other prizes and honorary mentions that are financially not remunerated.  The Jury has also the right to decide not to give the Grand Award in some section.