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A stylized silhouette of a kingfisher, split into two undulating parts that evoke the reflection of the small bird on the water’s surface. This is the design of the new University of West Bohemia Student Jury Award at this year’s Finále Plzeň festival. The sculpture was created by Tereza Cicvárková, a second-year student in the Metal and Jewellery Studio at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. “I was fascinated by the moment when the bird dives into the water to catch its prize,” Tereza said of her inspiration.

Bringing the new award to life involved more than the design itself. Tereza therefore worked with YOMAX, a company specializing in metal fabrication, to turn her concept into a finished piece. Translating the original design into production was an important part of the process. “It was interesting for me to see how an original design has to adapt to the technical possibilities of production and to look for ways of making it work,” Tereza explained.

The commission for Finále was her second experience of working to a clearly defined brief for an external partner. It placed her in a situation where she had to reconcile her artistic vision with production requirements. “Projects like this naturally push me out of my comfort zone. I have to work with a specific brief and find my own way of approaching it,” added the student, whose work explores the relationship between the body, its surroundings, and objects.

The Kingfisher, designed by Tereza Cicvárková, is now awaiting presentation to its recipient at the festival awards ceremony. Meanwhile, the makers of five short student films from the Animation and Multimedia studios are also awaiting their turn in the spotlight. The festival will screen their films before selected main program features. For Sutnar Faculty graduate Patricie Švadlenková, there is even more at stake: her animated film Autopilot has been selected for the student short film competition.

The six-minute film was completed in 2025 as her bachelor’s project. It draws on her own experience of derealisation and depersonalization – defensive states of mind in which a person perceives themselves or their surroundings as strange, distorted, or unreal. Patricie translates this experience into an oddly familiar railway world. Instead of sitting in the driver’s cab, the train driver rides on the roof – but the train will not drive itself. The conductor sends him back to work, while his journey is complicated by passengers who should have gotten off long ago and by a little man in a pond who leads him through yet more unexplored doors.

The festival has also selected two films from the Animation Studio: Příští zastávka (Next Stop) by Marie Charlotta Piskačová and BBQ by Vojtěch Haken. The Multimedia Studio is represented by Kionia, V životě bych neletěla do vesmíru (I’d Never Go to Space) and Beáta Valtrová’s video essay What is the sound of you trying to survive.

This year’s Finále Plzeň film festival will run from Friday, 25 September to Wednesday, 30 September. Details of the screenings and accompanying program are available on the festival website.