Published: June 14, 2023| 01:00 PM

KVIFF Eastern Promises industry platform unveils 27 selected film projects which will be showcased at the 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: 

• Monday, July 3: Works in Progress  
• Monday, July 3: Works in Development – Feature Launch 
• Tuesday, July 4: First Cut+ Works in Progress 

For Works in Progress, a total of eleven 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 in a total value of 100,000 EUR: 

Distances (Poland) 

The Fifth Resurrection of Farid (Egypt)           

The Other One (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic) 

Yalla, Baba! (Lebanon, Belgium, Netherlands) 

Beachcomber working title (Greece)      

Gulizar (Turkey, Kosovo)  

Tasty (Lithuania)    

Mother Mara (Serbia, Switzerland, Luxembourg) 

I'm Not Everything I Want To Be (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Austria) 

The Editorial Office working title (Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia)     

Bikechess (Kazakhstan, France, Norway)   

Details about the projects can be found here.  

The presentations will take place on Monday, July 3 at 14:30 CET.  

Works in Development – Feature Launch is a platform organised 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) 

Excavators (Cyprus)         

Flight from Kabul (Slovakia) 

God Break Down the Door (Czech Republic) 

Paperplanes (Greece) 

The Portuguese House (Spain, Portugal) 

Shadow Play (Belgium, Iceland) 

Soft Hours (Hungary) 

Details about the projects can be found here.   

The presentations will take place on Monday, July 3 at 10:30 CET.  

First Cut+ is a programme created for boosting the competitiveness and marketability of feature films that previously participated in First Cut Lab. The programme was launched in 2020 through close cooperation with two dynamic & well-established film industry platforms: Trieste FF’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)  

The Woman Who Cries (Brazil)  

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Netherlands)          

Family Therapy (Slovinsko)  

Pasárgada (Brazil) 

I Don't Love You Anymore (Czech Republic) 

Era (Kosovo)           

Allen Sunshine (Canada)

More details about the projects can be found here.   

The presentations will take place on Tuesday, July 4 at 13:00 CET.  

KVIFF Eastern Promises, the Karlovy Vary IFF's industry platform, strives to help discover promising talent from the regions of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, revealing it to over 1,300 distributors, sales agents, producers and festival programmers who attend the festival each year. Both European and non-European local distributors and major international sales reps rely on Karlovy Vary when searching for new movies. International sales companies introduce their films to both distributors and journalists from around the world. The Industry Days programme comprises a number of workshops, panels, and presentations or networking opportunities. Our primary focus on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East makes it possible for key European and American industry players to discover fresh new projects in various stages of development and production. 

More about the KVIFF Eastern Promises mission and activities here.