Following the successful 26th edition of the Prague International Film Festival – Febiofest, several new features will be put in place by 2020. The first of these is the introduction of a new artistic director, former delegate of the Berlinale International Film Festival Nikolaj Nikitin, who has been focusing on Czech, regional and European filmmaking for more than twenty years, has extensive experience and is connected with all parts of the world of film.
“I’m glad that I can welcome Nikolaj to our team as the new artistic director of Febiofest. His extensive experience as a film expert, interest in new trends in this field and, especially, his international contacts will surely help us to push the festival forward and also enhance its reputation in the world,” says Febiofest director Kamil Spáčil, commenting on the new artistic director, who is now working on preparations for the 27th edition of the Prague International Film Festival – Febiofest.
From 2002 to 2019, Nikolaj Nikitin (1974) was a foreign delegate of Berlinale for Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. He co-founded the film quarterly magazine Schnitt in 1995, served for sixteen years as the director of the “Filmplus” film festival in Cologne, and published numerous books focused on film together with Oliver Baumgarten. Nikolaj also worked as the artistic director on the omnibus film “Lost and Found” (2005) and afterwards as the artistic director of the Palic European Film Festival (Serbia) until 2017. He is the spiritual father of the SOFA (School of Film Advancement), an international workshop initiative, where he has been the director since 2013. Nikitin is a member of FIPRESCI, the European Film Academy and LUX Film Prize. He teaches film and cultural management around the world and has been a project scout for the prestigious MIDPOINT education programme since 2019.