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A selection of short feel-good stories from Slovakia.
Every week The Slovak Spectator brings you a selection of three short stories from across Slovakia from which pessimism and negativity are absent.
Matthew Haywood, a British tourist and ‘influencer’, recently visited Bratislava – and showed how even the most mundane observations can catch the attention of hundreds of thousands of online viewers.
Simply by walking into a small shop, amateurishly recording his experience buying and then consuming a handful of items, and then posting the video to TikTok, Haywood attracted more than 400,000 views, the Dobrenoviny.sk website reported.
In the video, Haywood spends the equivalent of £5 (about €6). Clearly a gourmand, he buys a packet of crisps, two chocolate bars and an open sandwich (chlebíček). He expresses dismay at getting much less for his money than he had in Poland, a previous destination.
He is impressed by the barbecue-flavoured crisps, commenting “We need these in the UK”. The other items attract only his disdain, and he casts them aside uneaten.
Slovak beekeepers produce some of the best quality honeys in the world.
That’s the verdict from comprehensive testing conducted on the wide range of honeys that competed in the Apimondia Honey Competition held during the 48th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress, held in Chile back in September 2023.
Slovakia: Where the bees buzz and the honey flows Read more
The results were published only in mid March, as the experts had to carry out long and precise lab tests to check the authenticity and determine the quality of the competing honeys.
Honey expert: Slovakia has world-leading expertise Read more
“Slovak beekeepers received nine medals in total for various honeys, from flower to forest ones,” the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) reported. “Slovakia was evaluated as the most successful country at Apimondia in the honey competition.”
Director Tereza Nvotová (centre), screenwriter Miro Šifra (right) and producer Tomáš Hrubý at the festival in Lille. (Source: nutprodukcia/Chloé Leclercq)A planned political drama series, Our People, exploring the story of the 2018 murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, won the Best Pitch Award at the SeriesMania television festival held in Lille, France in mid March.
“We thought it impossible,” said director Tereza Nvotová, as quoted by US film magazine Variety, as she claimed the Series Mania prize. “We thought it was dead, because the government in Slovakia really doesn’t want this story told. And we think this story is so important not just because of what is happening in Slovakia, and not just because Ján and Martina were murdered.”
Variety reported that the eight-episode series will draw on over 50,000 pages of case files and personal interviews with those close to the victims, tracking the tragedy with a vein of dark humour that the filmmakers liken to the work of directors Adam McKay and the Coen Brothers. Nutprodukcia’s Jakub Viktorín and Tomáš Hrubý are slated to produce, while Miro Šifra will write.
It is not clear, though, whether the series will be broadcast in Slovakia, since for now Slovak TV stations have refused to enter the project, the Sme daily reported.
“It is certain that we will make the series, the only question is when and how,” Nvotová said, as quoted by Sme. “We all believe that it will happen.”
(Source: Hej, ty! – Györe)This Hej,Ty caricature alludes to Slovakia’s presidential run-off between ex-diplomat Ivan Korčok and Speaker of Parliament and Hlas party chair Peter Pellegrini, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, April 6. Unless the outcome is very close, the result should be known by the early hours of Sunday morning.
You can send me your tips on good news stories about Slovakia or funny memes at: radka.minarechova@spectator.sk. Thank you!
