Film Language Summer School 2026

Link for final film presentations 2021 2020/1 2020/2

Films of the Film Language Summer School
Winning films of the Summer Schools
Summer School One-shot Films

The program will be provided by, among others, the following educators:

Certificate
A closer description of the curriculum
Instructions to participants
From the responses of the LŠFJ
Films from past years

Login address: vizualneefekty@vsmu.sk

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAYING THE FEE FOR ALREADY REGISTERED LŠFJ PARTICIPANTS only after being called by the organizer

Determination.

The course is open to all interested parties, regardless of experience or job title. Interested parties from among those applying for film education at the FTF VŠMU are welcome. The course is also intended for workers in the field of audio-media production in Slovakia, Bohemia and Moravia. It is assumed that you have completed secondary school or will soon complete it. The lower age limit is 16-17 years, the upper limit is unlimited.

Certificate.

Upon completion of the summer program, participants will receive a certificate of completion of the LŠFJ. This certificate is a document from the FTF VŠMU that they have acquired basic creative experience in the field of film art.

A more detailed description of the curriculum.

Over the course of 12 working days, program participants will gain basic knowledge in the fields of screenwriting, dramaturgy, directing, cinematography, editing and sound post-production using video technologies in the basic genre areas of news, journalism, documentary production, feature film and television production.

The teaching method is lectures, seminars, exercises, analyses and the creation of practical audiovisual products. Participants have the opportunity to bring their own works that they are interested in analyzing. Participants will prepare preliminary documentary and feature themes at home, which can be realized in improvised conditions on the streets of Bratislava or in the school premises.

On the last day of the Summer School, there will be a presentation of the films created with expert analysis by the teachers of the FTF VŠMU. At the same time, the participants will vote for the most popular film of the Summer School. The winner of the vote will receive a commemorative plaque. The films will then be uploaded to the school server of the FTF VŠMU.

The main prize of the popularity vote for the films created.

Educational program fee.

The price of the educational program is 390,- EUR. The price includes pedagogical guidance and technical support of the program. Accommodation, transport and meals are at the course participants' own expense.

Instructions for interested parties.

Login address: vizualneefekty@vsmu.sk
1) From the offered areas, choose two that you prefer.
a) Screenwriting
b) Directing
c) Documentary production
d) Animated creation
e) Cinematography
f) Editing composition
g) Sound track
h) Visual Effects and Game Design
i) Production
j) Film studies
3) Describe your relationship to the film in one sentence.
4) The environment in which the candidate operates.
5) Provide the option of using your own camera and laptop with or without editing capabilities.
6) E-mail address and postal address of the interested party for feedback + mobile phone number.

From the responses of the LŠFJ 2024

...I am grateful for the two summers spent at the summer school, because thanks to it I was accepted to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague - film screenwriting, I had the highest number of points out of all the applicants in both the first and second rounds.

...I want to thank you and your colleagues for the entire 12 days of summer school, just as mentioned, diamonds and lifelong friendships were made under pressure. It was an amazing experience, thank you. 💯🤠🙏 (10 signed)

...I am happy to announce that together with Ján Ž. and other guys we started shooting our first feature film last week. I am sending you a few pictures and short videos from the shooting in the attachment. We plan to finish shooting by the end of October, and together with post-production it will probably be finished sometime in the first part of 2025. M.

A sample from filming.

From the responses of the LŠFJ 2023

LŠFJ is a really great project, thanks to which I think I am a director at all, so I feel very grateful to LŠFJ and you. :) I still remember how I wrote to you years ago over the weekend after the deadline for applying to LŠFJ, asking if I could still come, and you wrote that it was no problem. And on Monday LŠFJ started, at the end of which I decided to go into directing, although it had never even occurred to me before... so many of my memories :))

From the responses of the LŠFJ 2022

...I want to thank you again for these two weeks, I learned a lot. Anyway, I regret not making my own work, and also not showing my own work from the past.

From the responses of the LŠFJ 2021
...I would really like to thank you for everything you have done for us. It has been an amazing 2 weeks of my life and I am sorry that it is over. But such is life. ...

From the responses of the 2020 LŠFJ
I would like to apply for the one-year study. I would also welcome the opportunity to attend your lectures, do you have a schedule? The summer school exceeded my expectations. Thank you for your professional approach and guidance.

From the responses of the 2018 LŠFJ
Students' attitudes after final analyses.

From the responses of the 2017 LŠFJ
"I would like to thank you once again for the excellent twelve days that not only taught me a lot, but also gave me the desire to continue learning and creating."
"I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in the LŠFJ. It was truly amazing, it gave me a lot of experience and I can definitely say that the LŠFJ showed me the path I want to follow."

From the responses of the 2016 LŠFJ.
"I personally signed up for the course because I work in the field and felt gaps in my previous knowledge and skills. The 12 days gave me a lot of knowledge, experience and skills that I will definitely use in the future. ... . The summer school is a great opportunity for people in the industry who want to learn more and find out where they make mistakes, learn new things, as well as for future students preparing for admissions."
"I learned a lot and made my first short film."
"It certainly brought all the focuses closer together, and an applicant for study at VŠMU can decide and reconsider which field they are interested in during the 12 days. We briefly outlined all the programs at the summer school, but I certainly won't speak for myself when I say that I gained a lot of useful advice for the future. Yes, it made sense and I wish you every year to be fulfilled because, in my opinion, with this program, you are sowing seeds of future, top-notch people in the field of film in Slovakia."

From the responses of the 2015 LŠFJ.
"And of course, I will definitely be happy to send you everything that I have ready. Otherwise, ........ also asked for my short film about advertising and it is possible that we will shoot another short film on this topic, so you can see how quickly everything is getting started thanks to the summer school! I thank you very much for your pedagogical and human participation in the Summer School and I am looking forward to having completed it, and that maybe I will shoot something with a good team in the future."
"I want to thank you once again for the great experience that your summer school was for me. I took away a lot of valuable knowledge and experience from you, as well as fun memories. ... At the same time, I want to ask you for advice. ..."
"I want to brag to you that thanks to my experience at the LŠFJ, I got a nice internship at the Municipal Television in TT, so besides school, I have a robot waiting for me, which (as I said) interested me so much :-)"
"I want to thank you again for the summer school. It helped me a lot. I've been looking at films differently since then."

From the responses of the 2014 LŠFJ.
"I immediately expressed my enthusiasm and honor that I could be at the LŠ on July 3rd. I also expressed my relationship to this teaching program in Zuzka's survey... However, I did not expect that I would be dreaming of images all week, dreaming of how I was editing a film. (I have only dreamed of ideas and solutions so intensely when writing a candidate's dissertation or a poem while finishing collections.) I guess there was also a sense of remorse that I did not get to intensive editing until Saturday after lunch. For now, I am doing preparatory, practice sequences."
"Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful workshop."

From the responses of the 2012 LŠFJ.
"Thank you again for everything, it was great."
"...after the wonderful experience at LSFJ, I would like to apply for DVFJ as well. I hope there will be enough of us to hold the course this year."
"Once again, I want to thank you for the summer school, it gave me personally more than I expected and opened up a whole new world to me that I had only very distantly suspected :) I believe that it will also be reflected in my work."
"I would like to thank you once again for the Summer School of Film Language, which certainly broadened my horizons and knowledge in many areas related to film, and most importantly, I found out what I still don't know...
I will definitely continue to practice the knowledge I have gained and learn more :-)."
"...I just want to humbly boast that I was accepted to the Faculty of Sound Design. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, without the summer school of film language I would probably never fully return to this dream from my youth. And at the same time, I probably would not have passed the admissions without the "window" into the world of film language. ..."

From the responses of the 2010 LŠFJ.
"...I want to thank you for the wonderful time spent at the summer school. It was a great idea to organize something like this. It's a shame that it's all over and I need to focus on other realities. Please thank you for me.....for helping me cut and edit the film so that it was watchable, even though there were so many mistakes (I don't mean just the shots; there were many other things that were ill-conceived and poorly made, but I didn't expect much from it either, since it was my first film; I guess the next ones will be better). And I admire you for being able to organize everything like that. Many thanks for everything."
"...on behalf of our son ......., who graduated from the 2010 LŠFJ, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who has been involved in organizing this event for several years. For ......., currently a 3rd year student ......., it was very beneficial and he gained new experiences and ideas. Although he did not sleep much at night while creating his film, he was absorbed in the work and it seemed that it did not bother him. Since he is among those interested in studying at the FTF VŠMU, after the 2010 LŠFJ, he started further work in this area so that he would have something to present at consultations with applicants for the study.
Once again, thank you all very much."

From the responses of the 2009 LŠFJ
"...I would like to thank you for the wonderful opportunity to "get a taste" of filmmaking. The course exceeded all my expectations both from a professional and human perspective (i.e. the teachers' approach)."
"Very satisfied, great people, lots of experiences, just extremely exhausted. It was an amazing experience, a brilliant 12 days of vacation. I'll miss it here."
"...I want to thank you for allowing me to participate in the course. I think
I think it's a brilliant idea and, most importantly, it makes sense..."

From the responses of the 2008 LŠFJ.
"I will always remember the LŠFJ only in good terms, the experiences and contacts I have gained are irreplaceable and thanks to the excellent leadership of all the teachers, I have learned to perceive film and film art not only with my eyes, but also with all other senses. My efforts to join the filmmaking environment have increased even more after the past weeks and I will make every effort to improve with every film project. I will also try to get accepted to your school and I firmly believe that it will be successful, even though I know that the competition is strong :-"
"thanks for the mood lift"
"The summer school was perfect, it's just a shame it's over. I'm on the radio again, with sound but no picture. It feels kind of poor to me :)"
"I didn't have time to thank you, thank you for you, it's rare and amazing that there are people who live, work and sacrifice their time and energy for their beliefs, thank you for the time with you, it was rare for me and I appreciate it"
"Thank you too for starting a similar project..I'm glad I was able to participate in it.."
"The whole two weeks were (in every way) EXCELLENT, I'm glad I was able to sign up for this course. Since Saturday I've been sad that it didn't last longer."
"...even though I didn't manage to film anything during the 2 weeks, it gave me a lot and I definitely changed my view of film..."
"For me, it was even more precious because I really missed that connection with our culture, and this way I was able to touch it at least a little bit again."