13th Year of ZNOJMO GRAPE FESTIVAL is Over
The evaluation of 13th year is divided into two parts, the preparation and the implementation. In the first half of 2011, as the festival organizers, we experienced a great loss. JUDr. Ladislav Jíša suddenly died. We found ourselves in front of a decision, what to do next. Despite this great loss, we finally decided to continue the festival tradition as a tribute to Jaroslav Jíša.
I am very pleased that now, when the implementation stage of the festival is over, I can say that owing to the enormous efforts of our colleagues and staff members, the festival was fully implemented, including all scheduled events.
Evaluating the festival's highlight, i.e. the competition of food TV programmes, equally targeted commercials and radio programmes in the third section, we witnessed further increase in the entries. It is no exaggeration to say that the quality of submitted spots has improved, reflecting both increasing interest in our festival and higher popularity of culinary and sommelier programmes and a general interest in what people eat and drink. We can say that these shows are now the backbone of the entertainment industry in media of all kinds, i.e. both online and print media. We are glad that our festival has tried to satisfy this interest as one of the first ones.
As I stated above, the quality of television and radio programmes is improving; we have observed a very positive development in advertisements where the interest of advertisers has grown and the winning spots truly represent the top quality in this area. Regarding radio programmes, the interest has increased as well. The participation of regional studios of Czech Radio is a positive thing and we are also pleasantly surprised that foreign radio programmes also have taken part. In case of the TV shows, I appreciate the fact that we have hit other destinations – 18 countries worldwide have submitted their spots. However, the best ones in this field are traditionally countries such as Great Britain, USA and Australia.
Accompanying events for public have followed a significant and positive event in past years, namely National Days where each participating country presented their culinary and cultural traditions.
Last year's attractive and exotic day of Egypt was followed by a view of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Croatia. In both cases, the days were held in the presence of ambassadors of concerned countries.
On the opening day of the festival, i.e. on Wednesday 14th September, other activities took place: All three festival boards initiated their work and a competing programmes and films from Anifest festival were presented for public in the Prestige hotel. In addition, the international competition of young sommeliers Grand Prix Sommelier Junior 2011 took place all day along the presentation of regional food and the workshop Gastronomy and Marketing.
The afternoon and evening programme was exceptionally interesting. The Netherlands National Day was followed by a spectacular concert of Lubomír Brabec, a world-renowned guitar virtuoso, and a singer Josef Vágner, in a lofty environment of St. Nicholas temple.
The evening continued with the festival opening ceremonies, a gala evening at the premises of South Moravian Museum Znojmo connected with the famous history of the Přemyslids. The festival guests and representatives of Znojmo town were tasting local specialities prepared by the Catering department of Prestige Hotel and, of course, the selection of Moravian wines while Slovacko dulcimer music contributed to a pleasant atmosphere.
On Thursday, the second day of the festival, the visitors could enjoy opening of the children's drawings exhibition named a 'Full Plate of Painting', the regional food presentation and the National Day of Croatia as the peak of the day.
The last day of the festival was Friday when its visitors and guests opened together a Gastronomic grotesque exhibition. They also had opportunity to enjoy the programme called the Day of Radio Blaník including an excellent concert of František Nedvěd and his young musicians at Masaryk square. Friday afternoon was enhanced by a regional food exhibit and a large presentation of KLASA food products.
The festival was officially terminated with the announcement of results and handing over of the prizes at the Municipal Theatre on a successful evening hosted by a TV presenter Jan Pokorný and a great concert of Bára Hrzánová, an actress and singer, accompanied by her remarkable band. The festival was terminated with a final meeting of all participants in Znovín Znojmo in Louka monastery.
From an expert point of view, highly evaluated events included – speciality beer competition workshop in the Prestige hotel, Grand Prix Junior Sommelier competition in the Louka monastery where this year, for the first time a student from Germany competed along young competitors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Furthermore, Food Forum – a project focused on Czech food was prepared very professionally with a large participation of expert institutions representatives, especially of the food manufacturing sector. The Food Forum continued at night time in the hall of Althanský palace as a presentation evening when four breweries were awarded prizes for the top-quality speciality beers. These events were significantly supported by the Food Chamber of the Czech Republic, Agricultural Intervention Fund, Agricultural Committee of the House of Representatives, Ministry of Agriculture and Viticulture Fund.
The 8th International Festival of TV and radio food programmes, Znojmo Grape, was held between 14th and 16th September 2011.
The festival comprised of competing 155 TV programmes, 61 programmes and 105 radio commercials from 18 countries around the world.
A number of national and regional media journalists, representatives of partners and experts in this field accredited at the Festival, including foreign participants. Czech Radio was broadcasting live directly from Znojmo throughout the festival. The festival was visited by many distinguished guests, representatives of Znojmo town, South Moravia, Ministry of Agriculture, Local Development and Health as well as by senators and deputies.
About 4,000 people came to see public events, traditionally free of charge. The festival was held thanks to the cooperation of 60 companies and media partners.
The success of the 8th year of the Festival owes to the commitment of all staff members to realize the festival despite L. Jíša's death including a careful preparation and excellent coordination of all involved teams from Znojmo, Znojmo Beseda and the South Moravian Museum. The collaboration with a fellow festival ANIFEST and Chello Central Europe has also proved worthwhile.
The patrons of the 8th year of the festival were the Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Regional Development and the Governor of South Moravia.
The main media partners Czech Television and PRÁVO newspaper provided a support to this year's festival with a great contribution of the Czech Radio.
Finally, I would like to thank all the financial and media partners and collaborating institutions, because without their support, this festival would not have been realized.
JUDr. Jiří Mejstřík
Festival Director