From April 28 to May 3, Palacký University’s AFO International Festival of Popular Science Films will transform Olomouc into a hub of film and science. This year’s programme is themed “A Common Language” and will feature dozens of films from around the world, debates, live podcasts, workshops, outdoor screenings, walking tours, school programmes, virtual reality experiences, and concerts.
The international competition will feature 20 titles, sixteen of which will have their Czech premiere at the festival and two their international premiere. Audiences can look forward to the film André is an Idiot, the documentary Underland about caves, laboratories, and tunnels beneath our feet, produced by Darren Aronofsky and narrated by Sandra Hüller, the new film by director Sara Dosa, Time and Water, and this year’s winner of the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, Nuisance Bear.
Audiences can also look forward to the film André is an Idiot.
Worth noting is the film Super Nature, which is a tribute to citizen science, but above all a celebration of the landscape, nature, and humanity’s relationship to it, captured on analog 8mm film and personally presented by producer Rebecca Wolf.
Dancing Elements and Reindeer Droppings
Two directors are also returning to the festival with their feature-length debuts, having previously presented their projects in the development phase as part of the Camp 4Science workshop. This professional programme at AFO supports the creation of documentaries every year and connects filmmakers with international mentors and scientists. “Austrian-American director G. Anthony Svatek will present the film Humboldt USA. Australian filmmaker Josef Gatti will bring the film Phenomena: When the Elements Dance, which combines science, experimental imagery, and music. Its soundtrack was created by the prestigious German music producer Nils Frahm,” said programmer Ondřej Kazík.
Eleven films are competing for the jury’s favor in the Czech and Slovak film competition. Among them are new works by directors Tomáš Elíšek (On the Ground), Bibiana Beňová and Kateřina Kořínková (Troublemakers), Hana Nováková (AMOOSED: The Moose Odyssey), and Ondřej Vavrečka (1+1+1). The short film competition will feature twenty-one films divided into five thematic sections. “I recommend the section What’s Changing, which showcases warmth and a passion for scientific discovery through the lens of human resilience. The films take us, for example, to the remote valleys of Svalbard, where two zoologists study reindeer droppings, or to a dying, remote weather station in northern Sweden,” said programme director Dominik Vontor.
New European Spotlight Competition
A new addition is a competition section consisting entirely of European films focused on current social and environmental themes. Guests will include, for example, world-renowned volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, who will present his film Volcano Voices, exploring the role of volcanoes in various cultures from their geological origins to their spiritual significance. Also featured will be the Ukrainian film No Shade In the Forest, which follows a trio of scientists mapping the impacts of war on natural ecosystems.
Volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer will present his film Volcano Voices.
Immersive projects will also compete for the AFO Award. One of them is the installation Steps of Progress, which seats visitors in authentic train seats salvaged from a decommissioned railcar. During their journey through time, they will encounter prominent figures from Czech science and technology. Swedish artist Marika Hedemyr will also attend the festival to present her augmented reality project Ashes to Ashes, set within the Central Cemetery in Olomouc-Neředín.
Love and Relationships in the Digital Age
The programme directors of the non-competitive sections demonstrate that understanding does not arise on its own—it is born from dialogue between different disciplines and worldviews. “We were inspired by our own experiences, failed dates, stories from loved ones, and the current state of society. We noticed how difficult it is to form new friendships. How dating is changing in the age of apps,” say the programmers of the Ahoj! Jak se máš? section, Karolina Matějková and Eva Suková. The programme will feature documentaries such as We Met in Virtual Reality and the film Face and Voice: The Power of Our First Impression, which explores the scientific mechanisms behind how we form an opinion of another person during the first moments of an encounter. There will also be a live recording of the Studio N podcast with Filip Titlbach and his guests from Deník N, Zdislava Pokorná and Lukáš Prchal.
Visitors can also attend a unique screening of the film Save Who You Can.
The section Diagnosis: Unknown focuses on diseases where diagnosis is exceptionally complex and often takes years. The series raises questions about communication between doctors and patients, as well as situations where medicine reaches its limits and people seek answers elsewhere. The programme will include screenings followed by discussions, including experiences with endometriosis, migraines, long COVID, and Crohn’s disease. A discussion hosted by Respekt magazine will address the topic of “Underfunding of Research into Chronic Diseases,” while the Psycho podcast from Radio Wave will focus on “Taboos and Silence.” Visitors can also attend a unique screening of the film Who Cares? about communication between patients and doctors in the auditorium of the UP Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.
Sport as a Common Language
Dramaturge Zdeněk Rychtera introduces the section The Culture of Victory: “We’ll look at sport from various perspectives—as a means of self-realization, a profession, and a scientific phenomenon that touches on training or the relationship between mind and body. But we’re also interested in it as a social metaphor. After all, sport can create shared emotions and experiences that transcend the individual, whether it’s national euphoria or the idea of the Olympic ethos,” adds Zdeněk Rychtera. According to him, the documentary The Joy of Winning, narrated by Dr. Hannah Fry, is worth noting; it highlights the presence of both conscious and unconscious calculations and competitiveness in our everyday lives. Ondřej Hudeček’s film Tapes from Nagano, meanwhile, captures the role of sport as a unifying force for collective and national identity, even in times of crisis and uncertainty.
The documentary The Joy of Winning will also be screened.
The Echoes of the Future section focuses on how people in different eras imagined the future and why it is sometimes difficult to even articulate it today. The programme therefore combines films about contemporary technologies, artificial intelligence, and space missions with historical films. An example of this connection is a double feature of the Canadian film Shifting Baselines, which explores the negative impacts of spaceflight, paired with Méliès’s legendary A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune). The programme will also include the podcast The Good, the Bad, and the Critical, in which the hosts explore different eras of science fiction.
A Break from the Cinema
For those who want to take a break from the screening rooms, there’s the option of going for a walk with filmmaker Prokop Pithart. “We’ll listen to the stories of the landscape around Olomouc and discover a world we usually pass by. For in the silence and apparent calm, small dramas and grand stories of our animal and plant neighbors unfold,” invites Anna Tabášková, dramaturge of the Resilience section.
A series of lectures titled Stories of Change: Community Against Despair is also on the agenda, featuring people across the Czech Republic striving for positive change in their communities. Topics will include the Klimababičky (Climate Grandmothers) and the Zachraňme Soutok (Save the Confluence) association.
The annual collaboration with Czech Television will also feature welcome segments in a programme called Science on ČT. The film In the Service of the Mountains offers a view of the Czech mountains throughout the seasons and pays tribute to the work of the mountain rescue service; its screening will be accompanied by commentary from guests of the Jeseníky Mountain Rescue Service.
Music is Science!
The main guest will be British scientist and producer Max Cooper, whose performance in the Hussite Church will combine electronic music with generative visual projections and scientific concepts.
The main musical guest will be British scientist and producer Max Cooper. Photo: Orozco Clara
The programme will be complemented by concerts from the GUFRAU project featuring guest Victor Kal, artist Johuš Matuš, and a series of club nights with music sets prepared by DJs such as Nill Garçon, Demonika, máúcta, and Austin Powers.
Festival in the Streets
The UP to the Future university initiative will present a science programme for the whole family at Horní náměstí. Visitors can also look forward to a giant inflatable model of the Earth and the astrosphere, as well as a new open-air spring cinema.
screenings and workshops for the youngest visitors, animated film series, and workshops in collaboration with the E-bezpečí project. The AFO Junior programme for teenagers will be complemented by a screening of the film Fighting Demons with Dragons at the Malá kulturní scéna Sedmička.
Academia Film Olomouc is the largest popular science film festival in Europe. Since 1966, it has been connecting scientists, filmmakers, students, and the general public, creating a space for sharing knowledge and open debate about the world we live in. Accreditation for the 61st edition of the festival is now open; basic admission to the event is free. The program and further information are available on the website afo.cz.