The 30th anniversary of PRIX EUROPA is accompanied by series of MasterClass workshops across Europe. Our last stop was Prague, where the Czech audiences were introduced to the best of European TV Fiction.
On 3 and 4 December a total of ten television shows from the PRIX EUROPA 2014-2016 festival programme was screened in the Světozor cinema.
The MasterClass started on Saturday, 3 December, with an introduction from Jan Maxa, Czech Television director of programme and format development, and Susanne Hoffmann, PRIX EUROPA festival director. This was followed by a screening of selected films and episodes of series and miniseries by European television stations. The Czech Television representative Eights, a winner of the PRIX EUROPA award for the best European TV drama of the year 2014, wrapped up the MasterClass.
‘Prix Europa is an entirely unique festival. It is not only a convergence of performed, documentary, and journalistic work from all across Europe, but also of their creators in an extremely open and motivating discussion,’ remarked Jan Maxa. ‘Each nominated programme must also send one of its creators – a screenwriter, director, or producer – to the festival, where they will join the judges’ panel for the given category. The primary goal of the entire festival is not solely about the final awards, but also about the discussions that are led by all of the category participants about each nominated show. I experienced it myself in 2015 with Jan Hus, and it provided extremely valuable feedback.’ At this year’s festival, the crime series Rapl was nominated for the TV Fiction category. Its screenwriter and director Jan Pachl sat on the judges’ panel and afterwards affirmed: ‘Prix Europa is the biggest event in European television festivals. The winning films are truly the best of contemporary television.’
You can find the full programme of the Prague MasterClass here:
http://www.kinosvetozor.cz/cz/cykly-festivaly/258/Prix-Europa-evropska-quality-TV/432/2016/program/
If you speak Czech, you can also take a look at the interview with Jan Maxa on Czech television (starting from 172:10):
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1096902795-studio-6/216411010101202/