FOREWORD

European cinematography has produced several films that have crossed geographical and language borders and scored success in European cinemas in the past few years. This is because European countries have several significant topics in common, such as the world wars, the Holocaust atrocities, the shadows of the recent past and the questions of guilt and forgiveness. All European countries pay a great deal of attention to their film-making. Since this field requires high financial resources, they support film creation, production and distribution. This is why I believe that we can still expect a number of remarkable films and that this festival will continue to offer them in the years to come as well.

The Days of European Film festival has already for 17 years given Czech viewers an opportunity to see the most interesting films that have been produced in Europe over the years. In conclusion, I wish that for this year's festival there will be cinemas filled to capacity, and for their audience, films that will really intrigue.

Prof. Václav Riedlbauch
Minister of Culture