Encouraging places of interest to work with film crews, spreading awareness of the benefits of audiovisual productions, as well as informing filmmakers about active, friendly locations, towns, and entire regions in the Czech Republic – these are the goals of the Film Friendly initiative. Nominations for the 2018 title will be accepted until March 28.
This year the prize is awarded by the Czech Film Commission and the Czech association of location managers and scouts. Since its inception, the Film Friendly initiative has been supported by the CzechTourism agency which, along with the Czech Film Commission, was involved in the development of regional film offices and film tourism.
“Regions and specific sites in the Czech Republic are increasingly active in working to attract filmmakers. They’ve come to realize the economic and tourism potential that audiovisual activities can bring to a place, they want to work together and ‘sell’ their location. Today, in almost every region, filmmakers can benefit from cooperation with regional film offices that were gradually established,” says Ludmila Claussová of the Czech Film Commission, which since 2011 has initiated the founding of eleven regional film offices.
But the competition for the title of Film Friendly is not limited exclusively to film offices. “Many individual locations, cities, and towns have long been in filmmakers’ sights and provide good facilities for filming. We want to reward those who actively collaborate to help facilitate prep work and filming,” adds Czech Film Commissioner Pavlína Žipková.
Nominees are also evaluated on their communication with the local community (authorities, institutions, residents, etc.) and other activities that help create a welcoming environment for audiovisual production at the site.
In recent years, the Film Friendly title has been awarded to the Usti Region (2017), the city of Liberec (2016), the Karlovy Vary Region (2015) and the Jeseníky Region (2014).