Austrian team Pyrovision won the 27th year of Ignis Brunensis

Brno – The twenty-seventh edition of the international fireworks festival has its winner. The 17-member jury awarded a total of three prizes, and on Friday evening, June 21, the audience prize will be announced based on the audience vote on the Ignis Brunensis and Rádio Krokodýl Facebook pages.

The main prize of the festival went to the Austrian team Pyrovision for their show Friendship. The show was designed by Christian Czech and dedicated to the team’s friendship with Czech fireworks designers and the Flash Barrandov SFX team.

"I am very happy that we won the award. Jaroslav Štolba from Flash Barrandov and I have known each other for many years and our friendship is the most important thing for me. I have been participating in fireworks competitions for twenty years, but the Brno Lake is the most beautiful place for fireworks shows," said Czech after receiving the award.

"It was a very beautiful show, it was obvious that the authors worked on it for a very long time and that they devoted themselves to it. Occasionally a team comes here with a show that they travel the world with, but the Austrian show was prepared not only for our environment but also for the audience. We live in a time when the word friendship should really have a meaning. The weather was also beautiful," Jaroslav Štolba, art director of the festival and the designer of the Flash Barrandov SFX team, evaluated the winning show.

The Czech Radio Award for the best music also goes to Pyrovision. In their show, they bet on unconventional music including remixes and covers, for the obligatory song they used its metal version.

We have prepared a short interview with the author of the winning show, Christian Czech:

In the interview before the show, you’ve told us that the show was a matter of heart for you. Now you’ve won your third prize for the best music and for the first time the main prize. How does that feel?

It feels great! Maybe it’s the most important win for me. After 20 years of fireworks competitions, this is for me the most important competition because of a big friendship between Jaroslav (Štolba) and me for a long time. We had many collaborations together in many countries. His art is different to mine, we differ in how we work with the materials, but I think we make a good team together.

You used extraordinary music for your show and some unique effects. Did you expect it to pay off this way?

I didn’t expect that. For me, it’s very important that people don’t get annoyed with fireworks. At this time, we have a lot of fireworks shows where you always see the mix of all colours and it’s very loud. For me, my passion is to select the colours in the sky, and I don’t want to repeat the show all the time, because it gets boring. The people start to tell jokes and eat during the fireworks and it’s not the main attraction in the event. And I think fireworks should be the main event, otherwise it makes no sense to make fireworks.

Which part of your show was your favourite?

For me, it’s all about emotion and I was touched when Jaroslav invited me to come. About my favourite part, I like the first part the most, because it’s mongolian music and it was a challenge for me to do it because it was so different. And then to say goodbye was also very emotional for me because you never know if and when you will come back. Our job is always a little bit dangerous so it’s always a little emotional for me to say goodbye.

Besides great ratings by the jury, your show has received some positive feedback from the audience so far…

I’m always happy when people like my show and I want to give them a good evening and to express feelings. I think it’s all about emotions, it’s not only about technique, but fireworks are also emotional.

This was your fifth time in Brno, would you like to come back?

Yes, sure! I’m so happy to work with Flash Barrandov SFX, they’re such nice guys. We had shot our fireworks in Shanghai, in Montreal, in Belgium, but it’s not always the same with the local teams. The Czech team is very special, so warm-hearted and it’s nice to work together, it’s a true friendship. I’ve seen so many places to which I won’t go back because the experience was not so great, but in Brno, it’s different. There’s the friendship, the hospitality, the care from the organisers. So I’ll be looking forward to my next time here. 

The prize for the best design of the obligatory part went to the Flash Barrandov SFX team, who prepared their show in cooperation with other Czech fireworks designers. Pyromusical Conquest of Paradise paid tribute to Ignis Brunensis co-founder and fireworks artist Ivan Martinek, who retired to fireworks heaven last year.

The organisers have announced the date for next year's fireworks competition: the twenty-eighth edition of the Ignis Brunensis festival will take place from 31 May to 21 June 2025, with the first fireworks display above the Brno Lake taking place on 14 June 2025.

Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
for more information from students of the faculty visit Stisk online