Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Eastern Promises industry platform has unveiled 27 film projects that will be showcased during its Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch and First Cut+ Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects, selected by international juries, will receive awards with a total value of 115,000 EUR.
The showcasing of projects to industry professionals will take place in Karlovy Vary, during this year’s KVIFF Industry Days on July 3 (Works in Progress and Works in Development – Feature Launch) and July 4 (First Cut+ Works in Progress).
For Works in Progress, 11 fiction and documentary feature films in the late stage of production or post-production from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa have been selected.
The following projects will compete for prizes of a total value of 100,000 EUR:
“Distances” (Poland)
Director: Matej Bobrik
Producer: Agnieszka Skalska
“The Fifth Resurrection of Farid” (Egypt)
Director: Khalid A. Youssef
Producer: Yasmin Desouki
“The Other One” (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic)
Director: Marie-Magdalena Kochová
Producer: Barbora Drtílková, Vít Poláček
“Yalla, Baba!” (Lebanon, Belgium, Netherlands)
Director: Angie Obeid
Producer: Bart Van Langendonck
“Beachcomber” – working title (Greece)
Director: Aristotelis Maragkos
Producer: Konstantinos Koukoulis, Myrto Stathi (co-producer)
“Gulizar” (Turkey, Kosovo)
Director: Belkıs Bayrak
Producer: Mehmet Bahadır Er, Valmira Hyseni, Belkıs Bayrak
“Tasty” (Lithuania)
Director: Egle Vertelyte
Producer: Lukas Trimonis
“Mother Mara” (Serbia, Switzerland, Luxembourg)
Director: Mirjana Karanovic
Producer: Snezana van Hauvelingen
“I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Austria)
Director: Klára Tasovská
Producer: Klára Tasovská, Lukáš Kokeš
“The Editorial Office” – working title (Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic)
Director: Roman Bondarchuk
Producer: Darya Bassel
“Bikechess” (Kazakhstan, France, Norway)
Director: Assel Aushakimova
Producer: Antoine Simkine, Almagul Tleukhanova, Christian Fredrik Martin
Details about the projects can be found here.
Works in Development – Feature Launch is a platform organized as a collaboration between KVIFF, the MIDPOINT Institute international script development program, When East Meets West co-production market and Trieste Film Festival.
The following eight projects, which have been developed within the Feature Launch program and are now looking for co-production partners, will compete for the 10,000 EUR Development Award:
“The Boy Who Saw in the Dark” (Latvia)
Director: Pauls Kesteris
scriptwriter: Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce
Producer: Kristians Alhimionoks
“Excavators” (Cyprus)
Director: Argyro Nicolaou
scriptwriter: Argyro Nicolaou
Producer: Constantinos Nikiforou
“Flight From Kabul” (Slovakia)
Director: Sahraa Karimi
scriptwriter: Sahraa Karimi
Producer: Wanda Adamík Hrycová
“God Break Down the Door” (Czech Republic)
Director: Vojtěch Novotný
scriptwriter: Vojtěch Novotný
Producer: Tomáš Pertold
“Paperplanes” (Greece)
Director: Selini Papageorgiou
scriptwriter: Selini Papageorgiou
Producer: Iro Aidoni, Mina Dreki
“The Portuguese House” (Spain, Portugal)
Director: Avelina Prat
scriptwriter: Avelina Prat
Producer: Gerard Marginedas
“Shadow Play” (Belgium, Iceland)
Director: Yr Thrastardottir
scriptwriter: Kristian Van der Heyden, Pauline Baert
Producer: Kristian Van der Heyden
“Soft Hours” (Hungary)
Director: Anna Gyimesi
scriptwriter: Anna Gyimesi
Producer: Genovéva Petrovits
Details about the projects can be found here.
First Cut+ is a program created for boosting the competitiveness and marketability of feature films that previously participated in First Cut Lab. The program was launched in 2020 through close cooperation between Trieste Film Festival’s When East Meets West and Karlovy Vary IFF’s Eastern Promises Industry Days. Each year, it promotes a portfolio of 16 fiction feature films at the stage of post-production – and the following eight of them will be presented in Karlovy Vary. The most promising project will be awarded a cash prize of 5,000 EUR.
“Raw Material!” (Hungary)
Director: Martin Boross
Producer: Gábor Osváth
“The Woman Who Cries” (Brazil)
Director: George Walker Torres
Producer: Antonio Gonçalves Junior
“The Garden of Earthly Delights” (Netherlands)
Director: Morgan Knibbe
Producer: Frank Hoeve
“Family Therapy” (Slovenia)
Director: Sonja Prosenc
Producer: Rok Sečen
“Pasárgada” (Brazil)
Director: Dira Paes
Producer: Eliane Ferreira
“I Don’t Love You Anymore” (Czech Republic)
Director: Zdeněk Jiráský
Producer: Jordi Niubó Prazák
“Era” (Kosovo)
Director: Parta Kelmendi
Producer: Marija Dimitrova
“Allen Sunshine” (Canada)
Director: Harley Chamandy
Producer: Chantal Chamandy
More details about the projects can be found here.
