Documentary by Museum of Romani Culture wins award for best Czech film at international festival

A documentary film by Anna Babjárová of the Museum of Romani Culture, “Andrej Pešta: O Fotki” (Andrej Pešta: The Photos) has won an award for best Czech film at the Etnofilm Čadca 2018 international film festival in Čadca, Slovakia. The 20th year of this festival took place from 20-23 November as a competition among 46 films from 27 countries in 11 categories.

The total number of films submitted to the contest was 173 from 47 countries. Babjárová’s film was created for the Museum of Romani Culture’s traveling exhibition Andrej Pešta: Mire sveti/Světy Andreje Pešty (The Worlds of Andrej Pešta) and this is the second prize it has won.

The film was first appreciated at a contest for films about museums, MUSAIONfilm 2018, in the Czech Republic, where it was one of 38 films in competition. On that occasion it won the main award.

Czech Culture Minister Antonín Staněk has congratulated the Museum on its success with this message:  “I congratulate the colleagues from the Museum of Romani Culture, which is one of 29 contributory organizations of the Culture Ministry, for winning this brilliant prize. This is a confirmation of the fact that their work makes sense and that they are going in absolutely the right direction.”

The film is publicly available on YouTube and presents the life and world of Pešta, a Romani activist, litterateur and photographer. The individual animated photographs from his work are commented on by people who personally knew him and altogether create an entertaining, interesting documentary.

The exhibition of Pešta’s photographs is currently also in competition in the Czech national Gloria Musealis contest, in the category of Museum Exhibition of the Year. The exhibition itself will be on view at the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno until 10 March 2019.