The Golden Beggar

Every June, around 150 participants come to Slovakia to take part in the Golden Beggar, which represents more than 70 local television stations from around 25 countries. Moreover, it is the only event of its kind in Europe, since no similar festivals have survived longer than a few years.

The 14th International Festival of Local Television, which took place in Košice from June 18 to 21, proved that local reporting doesn't mean airing stories about cowsheds and kindergartens.

Established in 1995 to "celebrate, popularise and support European local TV broadcaster production," the Golden Beggar festival, as it's also known, offers journalists from around Europe a forum for presentations, constructive discussions and networking.

The Grand Prize went to TV Etalon from Romania for a documentary titled The Humoresque.

“It is a story of a 94-year-old woman whose life had been exhausted by the systems she lived under, especially communism,” said Ed J. Baumeister, a renowned American journalist who regularly presides over the festival jury. “At the end of her days, the woman has nothing - not even enough to get herself buried. She therefore marries in order to get a marriage benefit of €200 to provide the wherewithal, which is approximately €65. And she dies just after getting married.”

According to Baumeister, such a brief synopsis can hardly provide an accurate picture of such a "brilliant" film.

The ASKA Production Company from Slovakia was awarded a Golden Beggar for its documentary about two blind, singing siblings. Slovak director Katarina Kocalkova received a golden statuette for her portrait of Slovak writer Bozena Slancikova–Timrava.

Roger Worrod, a British actor, writer and director who has been participating in the Golden Beggar festival for several years, said that work by local television stations had experienced a marked change during that time.

“Four or five years ago, there were a lot of humorous films and comedies at the festival, coming mostly from the Balkans, but also from Slovakia,” he told The Slovak Spectator. “Nowadays, the situation has changed; their optimism has somehow died away. However, what all these films certainly do not lack is a rich imagination, and this is what's most crucial."

Created by Zuzana Polacikova