At the end of August, the first edition of the international challenge Wiki Loves Film, organized by the Wikimedia Czech Republic Association, came to a close. Its goal was to expand and improve film-related articles on Wikipedia across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The challenge built on the 2024 micro-contest Films on Wikipedia, and thanks to the support of the Wikimedia CEE Hub, it covered the entire region from Aš to the Black Sea. Editors from six countries created 404 new articles and expanded or improved more than 1,000 additional pages.
How Did the Challenge and Competition Turn Out?
Wiki Loves Film built on the previous micro-contest Films on Wikipedia, which took place in 2024 exclusively on the Czech Wikipedia. In 2025, the challenge expanded to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe – a total of 28 countries. Participants from six of them joined the initial phase. Some communities showed exceptional activity and quickly climbed to the top of the ranking — most notably Romania, which also received the majority of partner-sponsored prizes.
Across the entire CEE region, 59 participants from six countries actively took part in the challenge. They collectively created 404 new articles in seven language versions of Wikipedia and improved 1,056 pages, amounting to 1,416 edits. The photographic part of the challenge was also active — 10 photographers uploaded a total of 448 images.
Most edits were made on the Czech Wikipedia (767), followed by the Romanian (599), Polish (37), and Macedonian (27). Among interesting contributions that could not be included in the competition this year was, for example, the expansion of the article Film on Uzbek Wikipedia by the user Panpanchik.
“I am very pleased that this year we approached the challenge internationally and involved the CEE Hub, whose founding I took part in and whose activities I consider crucial both for the region and for the movement as a whole. I am also glad that new entries are not limited to major global figures but include young filmmakers such as Monika Omerzu Midriaková. And I am especially delighted that many young editors joined this year’s challenge — they bring new energy and perspectives that are indispensable for the future of Wikipedia,” says Klára Joklová, Executive Director of Wikimedia Czech Republic.
The Purpose of the International Competition
“We decided to organize the international Wiki Loves Film competition because film is a universal language and an art form understood and appreciated by Wikipedians around the world. And this has now been confirmed,” says Pavel Bednařík, Chief Trainer of Wikimedia Czech Republic and the initiator of the competition. “Another reason was that it brings together my professional expertise, my personal obsession, and my work as Chief Trainer,” he adds.
Connecting the countries of the CEE region did not simply mean editing articles in parallel across multiple language versions of Wikipedia. In addition to creating an international list of notable articles, editors inspired one another and explored topics from various European cinematographies.
Publicity for Czech cinema was significantly boosted, for example, by colleagues from Poland, who published an article encouraging the Polish community to join the challenge. The most active Polish contributors were Ironupiwada and Damian Kujawa. Among other things, Ironupiwada created two key entries on the Polish Wikipedia: one about the Czech National Film Archive (Czeskie Narodowe Archiwum Filmowe) and another about the documentary filmmaker and icon of Czech documentary cinema, Karel Vachek. They also expanded the article about internationally known filmmaker of Czech origin Alexander Hackenschmied.
As noted above, a substantial share of edits, new articles, and photos was contributed by members of the Romanian community. In cooperation with Wikimedia Romania, they prepared a dedicated challenge page and also secured monetary rewards for the competitors. However, in the main competition, participants from all countries were awarded equally.
The results of the international CEE competition can be found here:
- Ironupiwada (Poland)
- AlessioRO (Romania)
- Elena Ancu Damian (Romania)
- Oly23lid (Romania)
- StanDG80 (Romania)
- ToniSant (Malta)
- Valivia.M (Romania)
The competition was made possible thanks to a microgrant from the Wikimedia CEE Hub. Thank you.
What Was Added to the Czech Wikipedia?
The strongest participation in the challenge naturally came from the Czech Republic. On the Czech Wikipedia, 37 participants took part, collectively improving 713 pages and creating several dozen additional new articles.
The range of new Czech articles created during the challenge was remarkably diverse. New entries now exist, for example, on Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher I, II, III; The Neon Demon; the series Copenhagen Cowboy), as well as the recently deceased Polish documentary filmmaker Marcel Łoziński. New articles were also created about other legends of world cinema — Lithuanian animation pioneer Ladislav Starewicz, or renowned French director Jules Dassin (Uptight). A standalone new article was also created about the phenomenon of the “vault film” (trezorový film).
The Czech winners and award recipients in the national competition were the following Wikipedians:
- Karelkam
- Hadonos
- Regi Novo
- Meloun1212
- Bazi
- Kurkic5
- Jklamo
- ZSsen
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition!
Events and Partner Involvement
Author: Pavel Bednařík (WMCZ) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
An accompanying international event of the challenge was an online edit-a-thon hosted by the CEE Hub, which took place on Monday, 18 August 2025, starting at 16:00. More than 15 participants joined, including the strong Uzbek community, which also expressed interest in participating even more actively in the next edition. The edit-a-thon included a knowledge quiz that added variety to the program and connected both online and in-person attendees.
The following day, 19 August, participants joined a walking tour of Prague cinemas, organized by the challenge partner Edison Filmhub, with around twenty people taking part. During the tour, Wikipedians captured numerous photographs, which were later uploaded to the open repository Wikimedia Commons as part of the challenge. After the tour, attendees were invited to a free screening of the new documentary distributed by Film Europe (connected to Edison Filmhub), The Lumière Brothers: The Adventure Continues.
Festival involvement extended beyond the two Czech festivals — the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště. Participants also contributed photographs from the MakeDox and Manaki Brothers festivals in North Macedonia.
Looking Ahead to the Next Edition
The first international edition of Wiki Loves Film showed that film-related topics connect Wikipedians across the entire CEE region. The challenge brought dozens of new contacts, strengthened community collaboration, and supported the creation of a substantial amount of new and expanded film-related content.
We believe that the energy generated during the challenge will continue — and that even more people, countries, and partner organizations from across the Wikimedia movement will join next year. The results of the challenge are published on the Wiki Loves Film page.
Our thanks go to all participants for their contributions, and congratulations to all award recipients!
More information about Wiki Loves Film can be found at the webpage film.wikimedia.cz.
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