The new Audiovisual Act that went into effect in the Czech Republic on January 1st is, above all, the merit of one person. Michal Šašek is widely recognised as the architect of a piece of legislation that ensures bigger budgets, more independence and a separate status for animation film.
You might know Michal Šašek as a former representative of Juniorfest, the young audience festival in the Pilsen region, but today he successfully holds political office as Deputy Minister of Culture in the Czech Republic. At the start of his term in December 2022, his first point of interest was a reform of the audiovisual industry. Not only in terms of numbers; the situation also required a different mindset. “The profound change is that our funding model is no longer dependent on political pressure. The budget is based on financial contributions from local and international stakeholders, and no longer needs to be negotiated every year from the state budget.”
His old passion is still reflected in the new structures: “We are currently negotiating in the Parliament a better financing of Czech TV. Both children’s films and animation would be the first categories to benefit from a public broadcaster’s bigger production budget.”
But as Deputy Minister, Michel does not fail to throw flowers at his alma mater: “I dedicated 17 years of my life to Juniorfest as a passion; I never earned a penny for that work. All the elements that I’m dealing with today as Deputy Minister, like negotiating with TV broadcasters and other audiovisual stakeholders, I have learned at Juniorfest. But after 17 years I felt an urgency to move onwards to a position where I can make a change.”
