KVIFF Promises are part of Karlovy Vary International Airport’s industrial program. The festival announced ongoing projects from Central Europe that have been selected for the KVIFF Central Stage showcase and books that have been selected for the inaugural edition of KVIFF’s Book to Screen, a showcase of books seeking film deals.
The 11 upcoming films selected for KVIFF Central Stage are directed by renowned filmmakers with extensive festival backgrounds, including Nikola Steiner, Antonio Lukic, Olga Chazidas and Kristina Grosyan.
These films, which are in development for co-production, financing, sales, distribution and festival opportunities, will be unveiled at an interactive talk show on the Film Industry Main Stage on July 6th.
The festival also announced eight literary works selected for KVIFF’s Book-to-Screen, a new showcase that aims to create a market for film rights to original Central and Eastern European IP and strengthen cooperation between the film and publishing industries. The books selected by an international jury will be presented to producers on July 7th at a talk show hosted by Niki Theron at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
This year’s KVIFF Promises will present 38 projects across five programs to producers, sales companies, distributors, festival programmers, and other professionals seeking emerging films and works that can be adapted. KVIFF Central Stage has 11 feature films, Works in Development – Feature Launch has nine films, Works in Development – Focus Queer has four films, KVIFF Talent has six feature films or series projects, and KVIFF Book to Screen has eight original literary IPs.
KVIFF Central Stage presents 11 upcoming films from the Central European region
KVIFF Central Stage was created by the KVIFF Film Industry Secretariat in collaboration with the national film institutions of eight Central European countries and aims to showcase upcoming feature films from prominent filmmakers in late stages of development, production and post-production.
“This format addresses a notable gap in the Central European film industry, where mid-career filmmakers have fewer opportunities for recognition and funding than emerging filmmakers. Thanks to our collaboration with film institutions across the region, including Swissfilm as a new partner this year, we will be showcasing experienced filmmakers working on highly anticipated projects that are already resonating with audiences,” said KVIFF Director of Film Industry Programs Hugo Roszak.
“Flying Mountain”, a leading Swiss project, was written and directed by Nicola Steiner, whose previous works such as “Above and Below” were screened at the Berlinale, Rotterdam and KVIFF.
Ukraine will screen two co-produced films by filmmakers with extensive experience in film festivals. The comedy-drama “Luxembourg, Luxembourg” premiered in Venice, its previous film “My Thoughts Are Silent” also screened at KVIFF, “Screaming Girl” by director Antonio Lukić, which won the Special Jury Award in the East and West category in 2019, and “Noah” by director and screenwriter Marisia. Nikitiuk.
The documentary she co-directed, “Traces,” had its world premiere and won the Audience Award in the panorama category at this year’s Berlinale. Her debut feature, When the Trees Fall, was nominated for Best Debut Feature at the 2018 Berlinale and won the 2016 Krzysztof Kieślowski ScripTeast Award for Best Original Screenplay in Eastern Europe. Her films were also screened at Cannes and Tallinn Black Nights.
The Czech Republic has two representatives elected. Tomáš Hodan (“Poslední Závod”, “President Blaník”) presents “The Stones Are Rolling to Prague”, which recalls an iconic Czech moment of the 1990s through the story of the preparations for the Rolling Stones concert in Prague in 1990. The Czech cultural phenomenon, or cottage culture, is also explored in the comedy A Few Branches Off. Tomáš Pavlicek.
Romanian-Hungarian director Christina Grosyan (Venice award-winning director Ordinary Failures) will present her new mob drama Lesdenzero.
Polish director Olga Čažidas, known to Karlovy Vary audiences for “Imago” (which was screened in competition at Proxima and won the 2023 International Federation of Critics Award), will screen “Tribe,” a road movie aimed at women.
German multidisciplinary artist Sebastian Fritsch, whose debut film Endzeit premiered at the Berlinale, will present his visually and atmospherically rich new film Trainrider.
Slovenian writer and director Goran Vojnović presents a new film adaptation of his book “Yugoslavia, My Homeland”. The selection concludes with the Slovak coming-of-age drama “Cowgirl” by Michal Blaško (“Victim”) and “Hansi,” a boxing biography by Austrian director Sebastian Blaunis set in 1960s Vienna.
Beyond the traditional pitch, projects will be introduced through interactive conversations about the career paths of filmmakers and the possibilities for co-production across participating countries. The most promising films in development, selected by an international jury, will be eligible for the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production and Development Award.
Participating projects will also have access to post-production through partnerships with UPP and Soundsquare. Films that meet the criteria for the Czech Audiovisual Fund’s 35% Digital Production Incentive will receive an additional 15% discount on audiovisual post-production services from both studios.
The KVIFF Central Stage Showcase will be held on July 6th at 2pm at the Industry Main Stage in Kaiserbad.
Projects selected at KVIFF Central Stage:
“The Flying Mountain” (Switzerland, Ireland, Austria)
Director/Screenplay: Nicholas Steiner
Produced by: Katrin Lenz, Stefan Jaeger, Nicolas Steiner, David Collins, Eamon Hughes, Alexander Damreicher-Evensenu, Buddy Mink
“Screaming Girl” (Ukraine, Ireland)
Director: Antonio Lukic
Screenplay: Antonio Lukic, Ailvé Kogan
Produced by: Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko, Jesse Fisk, Annie Berkeley
“Noah” (Ukraine, Croatia, Belgium)
Director/Screenplay: Marisia Nikitiuk
Produced by: Igor Savichenko, Hrvoje Osvadić, Sebastian Deroyer
“Resden Zero” (Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania)
Director: Christina Groshan
Screenplay: Arne Kohlweyer, Christina Groshan
Producer: Marek Novak
“The Stones Are Rolling to Prague” (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Director/Screenplay: Tomáš Hodan
Produced by: Jakub Klaus, Martin Palan, Tibor Buza
“A Few Branches Off” (Czech Republic)
Director/Screenplay: Tomáš Pavlicek
Producer: Eva Vakhova, Pavel Vasya
“Tribe” (Poland, Albania)
Director/Screenplay: Olga Chazidas
Produced by: Karolina Garba
“Train Rider” (Germany)
Director: Sebastian Fritsch
Screenplay: Jan Bredehoft, Sebastian Fritsch
Produced by: Corinna C. Potter, Daniel Ehrenberg
“Yugoslavia, my homeland” (Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia)
Director: Goran Vojnović
Screenplay: Goran Vojnović, Alexander Popovski
Produced by: Bošcan Ikovic, Milos Ivanovic
“Cowgirl” (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary)
Director: Michal Blaszko
Screenplay: Jakub Medvecki
Produced by: Jakub Victorin, Tomáš Hruby
“Hansi” (Austria)
Director: Sebastian Blaunis
Screenplay: Sebastian Blaunis, Helmut Emmersberger
Producer: Ulrich Gamemacher
Book to Screen at KVIFF: Establishing the Central and Eastern European Market for IP Adaptation
A new collaboration with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Moravian Library in Brno and Book World, with support from the PPF Foundation, brings literary works to the KVIFF Industry Days program.
Inspired by the Berlinale program, KVIFF’s Book to Screen spotlights eight books with high potential for film adaptation. These books were written by writers from Central and Eastern Europe, a region that Rosák says is still underrepresented when it comes to intellectual property development and the systematic treatment of literary rights.
Producers looking for new material for film and television adaptations will have the opportunity to discover these works of literature during an interactive talk show hosted by Niki Theron, Senior Manager of International Projects and Films, at the Frankfurt Book Fair on July 7 (10:30 a.m. Film Industry Main Stage).
“We were delighted to receive over 70 submissions from 14 countries for this first edition. Choosing just eight was a huge challenge, but the final line-up ranged from historical epics and folk horror to fairy tales and bold contemporary voices. It reflects the diversity of themes. We look forward to spotlighting these stories at KVIFF and paving the way for new book and film partnerships across Central and Eastern Europe.”
“True Way Out,” a memoir by Patrick Banga, a journalist who grew up in the Roma community in Prague’s Žiškov district in the 1990s, has won the 2023 Magnesia Litera Award for Best Debut.
“Wolf Gokko” is “a village novel that you want to read in a safe city.” This folk horror thriller by author and literary scholar Zuzana Žichova, former head of Czech Studies at Oxford University, was published in France and the United States by Editions du Seil and Catapult, respectively.
A mysterious and hostile space is the title character in Slovak author and playwright Daniel Myring’s graphic novel The Zone. Its absurd characters, dark humor, striking visuals, and cult status among comics fans in Central Europe (the novel won the Czech Muriel Prize) all contribute to its film potential.
“Queen of Hearts,” a dystopian satire by Moldovan author Julian Chokan, explores an ever-expanding, all-consuming crater in the middle of post-communist Chisinau.
Ieva Danvrite’s Aspic Bistro, set in a surreal, almost Orwellian kitchen environment, won several awards in her native Lithuania, including the award for most creative book of the year.
The historical drama Cupid in the Kremlin Walls takes place during a tragic train journey across Georgia during the height of Stalinist terror in the 1930s. The author, historian Aka Molchiladze, is an accomplished writer who has published over 30 novels in 15 countries. He has written several screenplays, and his previous work, A Journey to Karabakh, was made into a film.
The selection also includes the Polish title “Kola River Adventures from the Willow Meadow” by Adam Rovinski, a strong representative of children’s literature. The story of a young beaver named Cora has the potential to be an ecologically relevant, visually and emotionally compelling family film.
The war in Donbass is the starting point for the novel “Amadoka”, which combines an intimate human story with the vast historical trauma of Eastern Europe in a deeply cinematic way. Author Sofia Andrukhovich won the 2024 International Hermann Hesse Prize for this work. Her debut novel Felix Austria has already won the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year award and has been made into a film titled Devoted.
The showcase will be complemented by IP-focused producer think tanks and networking sessions.
“Our long-term goal for Book to Screen at KVIFF is to become a true Central and Eastern European IP market that fosters dialogue between the film and publishing industries and helps create a more transparent environment for adaptation rights in the region,” Rozak said.
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Book to Screen with KVIFF Project:
“Playing Wolf” (Czech Republic)
Author: Zuzana Zichova
Genre: Folk horror, psychological thriller
Publisher: Argo
“True Exit” (Czech Republic)
Author: Patrick Banga
Genre: Youth, autobiography
Publisher: Host
“Cupid on the Kremlin Wall” (Georgia)
Author: Aka Moltiladze
Genre: Historical drama, mystery novel
Publisher: Surakauri Publishing
“Aspic Bistro” (Lithuania)
Author: Ieva Dambrite
Genre: Magic realism satire
Publisher: Kitos knygos
“Queen of Hearts” (Moldova)
Author: Julian Chocan
Genre: Dystopian novel
Publisher: Polyrom
“Journey of the Kola River from the Willow Meadow” (Poland)
Author: Adam Rovinsky
Genre: Children’s literature
Publisher: Widonoclog
“The Zone” (Slovakia)
Author: Daniel Mayring
Genre: Graphic novel
Publisher: Black
“Amadoka” (Ukraine)
Author: Sofia Andruhovich
Genre: History/war novel
Publisher: Old Lion Publishing
