Karlovy Vary Film Festival Unveils 35 Projects in Industry Section Eastern Promises

Leo Barraclough
·5 min read
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Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s industry section, Eastern Promises, has unveiled its lineup of 35 film projects, which will be showcased during the Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, First Cut+ Works in Progress and Odesa International Film Festival Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects will receive awards totaling Euros 125,000.

The showcasing of projects to industry professionals will take place in Karlovy Vary during KVIFF Industry Days. On July 4, are Works in Progress and Works in Development – Feature Launch; on July 5, First Cut+ Works in Progress and OIFF WiP Selection.

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For Works in Progress, 10 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 prize will be decided by jury members Dennis Ruh (European Film Market), Óscar Alonzo (Latido Films), Esra Demirkiran (TRT), Michaela Patríková (SoundSquare) and Ewa Puszczyńska (Opus Film).

The following projects will compete for prizes with a total value of 100,000 Euros:

The Ice That Still Supports Us (Estonia, Lithuania)
Director: Arko Okk
Producer: Arko Okk, Sandra Heidov, Teresa Rozanovska

Part of Society (Georgia)
Director: Rati Tsiteladze
Producer: Olga Slusareva, Rati Tsiteladze

The Burdened (Yemen, Sudan)
Director: Amr Gamal
Producer: Mohsen Alkhalifi, Amr Gamal, Amjad Abu Alala, Mohammed Alomda

Endless Summer Syndrome (Turkey, France)
Director: Kaveh Daneshmand
Producer: Gem Deger, Eva Larvoire, Cédric Larvoire, Kaveh Daneshmand

Brutal Heat (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic)
Director: Albert Hospodářský
Producer: Ondřej Lukeš, Lukáš Kokeš

Windless (Bulgaria, Italy)
Director: Pavel G. Vesnakov
Producer: Veselka Kiryakova, Alessandro Amato, Luigi Chimienti

The Visitors (Czech Republic, Norway, Slovak Republic)
Director: Veronika Lišková
Producer: Kristýna Michálek Květová

Machtat (Lebanon, Tunisia, France)
Director: Sonia Ben Slama
Producer: Tania El Khoury

Self Portrait Along the Borderline (Georgia)
Director: Anna Dziapshipa
Producer: Anna Dziapshipa, Sakdoc Film

Elephant (Poland)
Director: Kamil Krawczycki
Producer: Jakub Mroz

Details about the projects can be found here. The presentations will take place on July 4 at 2 P.M. CET.

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 jury consists of Paul Ridd (Picturehouse Entertainment), Julia Sinkevych (JS Films, Odesa International Film Festival) and Danijel Hočevar (Vertigo).

The following nine projects, which have been developed within the Feature Launch program and are now looking for co-production partners, will compete for the 10,000 Euros Development Award:

You Better Be (Bulgaria)
Director: Jonathan Heidelberger, Magdelena Ilieva
Scriptwriter: Jonathan Heidelberger, Drago Bago, Magdelena Ilieva
Producer: Magdelena Ilieva, Drago Bago

The First Week of August (Croatia)
Director, Scriptwriter: Filip Mojzeš
Producer: Matej Merlić

Twentyseven (Slovak Republic)
Director, Scriptwriter: Gregor Valentovič
Producer: Zora Jaurová

Side by Side (Czech Republic)
Director: Kilián Vrátník
Scriptwriter: Natalie Golovchenko, Kilián Vrátník
Producer: Noemi Krausová

My Name Is Lily (Cyprus)
Director: Yianna Americanou
Scriptwriter: Yianna Americanou, Christina Georgiou
Producer: Stelana Kliris

My Best Friend’s Baby (Sweden)
Director, Scriptwriter: Sophie Vuković
Producer: Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå

Dolphin (Poland)
Director, Scriptwriter: Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska
Producer: Magdalena Sztorc

All My Friends Soon Will Be Dead (Latvia)
Director, Scriptwriter: Armands Zacs
Producer: Alise Gelze

Flower Is Not a Flower (Romania)
Director, Scriptwriter: Cristian Pascariu
Producer: Adriana Răcășan

Details about the projects can be found here. Presentations will take place on July 4 at 11 A.M. CET.

First Cut+ is a program created to boost the competitiveness and marketability of feature films that previously participated in First Cut Lab. The program was launched in 2020 through cooperation between two well-established film industry platforms: Trieste’s When East Meets West and Karlovy Vary’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 projects are selected by the international jury members Esra Demirkiran (TRT), Boris Pugnet (First Cut+, Tiramisu) and Ji Lacerna (The Full Circle Lab Philippines), and awarded with service packages and cash prizes that allow them to finish the films.

Night Detour (Canada)
Director: Ariane Falardeau St Amour, Paul Chotel
Producer: Omar Elhamy, Simon Allard and Jeanne Dupuis

Goldfish (U.K., U.S., India)
Director: Pushan Kripalani
Producer: Amit Saxena

Under the Naked Sky (Netherlands, Belgium)
Director: Lilian Sijbesma
Producer: Germen Boelens

The Maiden (Canada, U.S.)
Director: Graham Foy
Producer: Daiva Zalnieriunas, Dan Montgomery

I Love You More (Kosovo, Albania)
Director: Erblin Nushi
Producer: Fjolla Nushi, Erblin Nushi

Norwegian Dream (Norway, Poland, Germany)
Director: Leiv Igor Devold
Producer: Håvard Wettland Gossé

Charcoal (When My Life) (Brazil, Argentina)
Director: Carolina Markowicz
Producer: Zita Carvalhosa

The Territory (Turkey)
Director: Mesut Keklík
Producer: Burak Yavuz

More details about the projects can be found here. Presentations will take place on July 5 at 2 P.M. CET.

In support of Ukrainian filmmakers and festival organizers, this year’s KVIFF will host the Works in Progress program of the 13th Odesa International Film Festival, which cannot be held there because of Russian aggression. Eight full-length film projects in the final stage of shooting or in post-production produced in Ukraine or in co-production with Ukraine, selected by the OIFF selection committee, will be presented by their creators. The most promising project chosen by the international jury will receive a prize in the amount of 10,000 Euros.

U Are the Universe (Ukraine)
Director: Pavlo Ostrikov
Producer: Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko

Chrysanthemum Day (Ukraine, North Macedonia)
Director: Simon Mozgovyi
Producer: Alex Chepiga, Artem Koliubaiev, Taras Bosak

The Glass House (Ukraine, Romania)
Director: Taras Dron
Producer: Igor Savychenko, Valeria Sochyvets, Rodrigo Ruiz Tarazona, Taras Dron

Company of Steel (Ukraine, Latvia)
Director: Yuliia Hontaruk
Producer: Yuliia Hontaruk, Ivanna Khitsinska, Alexandra Bratyshchenko, Uldis Cekulis, Igor Savychenko

When We Were 15 (Ukraine)
Director: Anna Buryachkova
Producer: Natalia Libet, Vitalii Sheremetiev

Demons (Ukraine)
Director: Natalka Vorozhbyt
Producer: Dmytro Minzianov, Denis Ivanov

Do You Love Me? (Ukraine)
Director: Tonia Noyabrova
Producer: Anastasiia Bukovska, Danylo Kaptyukh

Diagnosis: Dissent (Ukraine)
Director: Denys Tarasov
Producer: Taras Bosak, Valeria Ivanenko

More details about the projects can be found here. Presentations will take place on July 5 at 11 A.M. CET.

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