Slovakia 2005

Yearbook 2005

Slovakia. According to countryaah, Bratislava is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Slovakia. Slovakia’s capital Bratislava hosted a summit in February between US President George W. Bush and his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin.

• Also see abbreviationfinder.org for how the acronym SK stands for the country of Slovakia and other meanings of this two-letter abbreviation.

Following Slovakia’s entry into the EU in 2004, the country’s business climate had changed most rapidly in the world, according to a World Bank report. This resulted in significantly increased foreign investment, but Slovakia also experienced negative effects of EU entry. Human trafficking across the border from Ukraine increased, at the same time as a growing amount of synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy, were smuggled west from EU countries such as the Netherlands.

In the summer, the government’s internal contradictions led to the dismissal of the controversial Minister of Economy and media mogul Pavel Rusko of the New Citizens Alliance (ANO). According to Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, Rusko had lost the trust of its coalition partners because of their private affairs. After his departure, Rusko sold his previously popular TV channel Markísa to American investors.

Prime Minister Dzurinda, after Rusko’s resignation, no longer had a clear majority in parliament, and the opposition parties demanded new elections. In order to enforce their demands, they boycotted Parliament when the autumn session was to begin in September. However, Dzurinda succeeded in gathering enough support from independent members to bring together the smallest possible majority, the overweight of a vote, and thus Parliament’s work could begin.

Cinema. – Film production in Slovakia was later than in the Czech-speaking countries and, during the existence of Czechoslovakia, a minority in terms of quantity, although with relevant personalities. The birth of the independent Slovakia, in 1993, almost contemporaneous with the transition from a nationalized to a market economy, has sharpened the gap. The absence of audiovisual legislation, the backwardness of infrastructures and the lack of organic support policies have negatively impacted the production and distribution situation. Over the next decade, annual production was limited to two or three feature films, and Martin Šulík was the only directing personality to stand out in Europe, with films such as Neha (1991, Tenderness) and Záhrada (1995, The garden). As for other markets in Central and Eastern Europe, there was also a contraction in the year and an increase in entry costs. The market was and is dominated by US manufacturing.

The establishment of an audiovisual fund and the framework law (2008) have partly rebalanced the situation. There are three trends in the Slovakia between 2005 and 2015. First, the consolidation of a collaboration with Czech companies, with which to expand the distribution basin and start exchanges of skills. Cooperation shows that it can also have repercussions on a thematic level, as in Šulík’s Slnečný štát (2005, The city of the sun). Furthermore, the partnership has attracted further European companies, thanks to the Community programs for co-productions: these were the cases of Bathory (2008) by Juraj Jakubisko, produced by Czechs, Slovaks, British and Hungarians, and great success with the public, or Jánošík, pravdivá historia (2009, Jánošík, a true story) by Agnieszka Holland and Kasia Adamik, Czech-Slovak-Polish-Hungarian co-production dedicated to a legendary Slovak figure.

Secondly, there has been an increase in documentary production, capable of enhancing the liminal and heterogeneous condition of the Slovakia on an ethnic, religious and social level, with films such as Iné svety (2006, Other Worlds) by Mario Škop, or Hranica ( 2007, The border) by Jaro Vojtek.

Finally, there is an appreciable early policy: in a limited quantity production, many young personalities were responsible for new feature films. The promotion of first works has allowed the affirmation in international festivals (Venice, Rotterdam, Berlin) of newcomers such as Mira Fornay, with Líštičky (2009, Volpi) and Môj pes Killer (2013, Il mio cane Killer) or Mátyás Prykler with Ďakujem, dobre (2013, Okay, thank you).