A severely disfigured man, found among the dead in the Donbas war zone, survives but suffers from complete amnesia. At the hospital, a woman named Romana appears and claims that he is her husband, Bohdan. She takes him home and tries to restore his memory by telling him the story of his family. Through her narratives unfolds the fate of a Galician family, the tragic love story of Ulyana, a Ukrainian woman, and Pinchas, a Jewish man, during the Holocaust, as well as the story of the writer and archaeologist Viktor Petrov. Gradually, the search for one man’s lost past becomes a journey through the forgotten and suppressed chapters of twentieth-century Ukrainian history, where memory emerges as both a source of salvation, a burden, and the greatest mystery of all.
Sofia Andrukhovych ranks among the most distinctive Ukrainian writers of the present. Her prose combines strong narratives with historical reflection and a female perspective. She has earned a great deal of attention for her novel Felix Austria (2025), which won the award for BBC Ukraine Book of the Year and was adapted into a film under the title Devoted (Viddana, 2020). Her second novel Amadoca was widely acclaimed and won the 2024 International Hermann Hesse Prize.
Founded in 2001 in Lviv, Ukraine as a traditional children’s publisher, The Old Lion Publishing House today offers a wide range of books for readers of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, including board books, fairy tales, poetry, fiction for children and young adults, novels, atlases, and art albums. The publisher releases nearly 180 titles annually, featuring both Ukrainian authors and translated literature, with translations accounting for approximately 60% of its list. In 2023, The Old Lion Publishing House was awarded the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year (Europe) by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and international publishing peers.
Amadoca should be adapted for film because it combines an intimate human story with the vast historical trauma of Eastern Europe in a deeply cinematic way. Its fragmented structure, shifting identities, and layered timelines offer rich visual and emotional possibilities for directors and audiences alike. The novel explores memory, war, love, and the erasure of personal and national history – themes that resonate globally today. With its haunting atmosphere and psychological depth, Amadoca could become a powerful arthouse drama with strong international festival and streaming appeal.
The Old Lion Publishing House LLC
Rynok Sq., 14, 79008, Lviv, Ukraine
Email: [email protected]
Ivan Fedechko | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Sophia Andrukhovych | Author
A young man fresh out of university seeks escape from his religious upbringing, overprotective parents, and stagnant post-student life. He takes a job at Aspic Bistro, scraping meat and cartilage from bones in a harsh, absurd, Orwellian kitchen ruled by rigid hierarchies. Among exhausted outcasts, he tries to rise to head chef but fails, instead falling in love with Shachla, a teenage pig farmer. After their wedding, she transforms into a pig, beginning a further descent into a phantasmagorical world.
Ieva Dumbrytė (born 1991) is a Lithuanian author. She studied applied history and has worked in various fields alongside her literary practice. Her debut novel Aspic Bistro established her as a distinctive voice in contemporary Lithuanian literature and received the Most Creative Book of the Year 2021 award in Lithuania. She is also the recipient of the Liudas Dovydėnas Literary Award (2022) and the Dausos Family Lithuanian Literary Award (2023). Dumbrytė is the author of two novels, both nationally recognised and praised by literary critics for their dark humour, social satire, and imaginative prose. She lives in Panevėžys, Lithuania.
Kitos knygos is an independent Lithuanian publishing house founded in 2004, known for publishing distinctive contemporary fiction, narrative non-fiction, social criticism, and translated literature. Its catalogue includes critically acclaimed Lithuanian and international authors, and many of its titles have received national literary awards, nominations, and wide critical recognition. Kitos knygos is recognised as one of Lithuania’s leading independent publishers, with a strong reputation for bold editorial choices and culturally influential publishing.
This story is highly suited for film adaptation due to its vibrantly visual, self-contained world, where the kitchen functions as a closed system of power, ritual, and survival. Its absurd internal logic, grotesque imagery, and sudden shifts into the surreal are inherently cinematic and invite a distinctive audiovisual approach that would be difficult to replicate in any other medium. The narrative’s combination of dark satire, transformation, and social critique offers strong potential for a bold European arthouse film, translating psychological and social tensions into a physical, sensory cinematic experience.
Book Smugglers Agency
Manufakturu str. 25-12, 11342, Vilnius, Lithuania
Email: [email protected]
Benas Berantas | Film Rights Holder
Email: [email protected]
Ieva Dumbrytė | Author
It is the 1930s in Soviet Georgia. A retired secret policeman disappears without a trace and is presumed to have been abducted by the Soviet police. His wife, Musya – a headstrong woman, renowned revolutionary, and women’s rights advocate – decides to secretly travel to the Kremlin to discover his whereabouts. A flashback storyline reveals that she shared a special friendship with Stalin in their youth, explaining her motivation for seeking an audience with him. During her three-day train journey, Musya encounters several acquaintances, inadvertently blowing her cover. Surrounded by agents, she becomes entangled in chaotic and violent turmoil, refusing to give up.
Aka Morchiladze (pen name of Giorgi Akhvlediani), is arguably the most widely recognized contemporary Georgian writer. A historian by training, he has also hosted TV and online programmes on history and literature. Since 1999, Sulakauri Publishing has printed more than thirty of his books. Some of Morchiladze’s bestselling and prize-winning novels include Santa Esperanza, Obole, Made in Tiflis, and Cupid at the Kremlin Wall. His book Journey to Karabakh was adapted to a film, and he has also authored several screenplays. Aka was an honorary spokesperson at the Georgia Guest of Honour opening ceremony at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018. His works have been translated into many languages and are published in 15 countries.
Sulakauri Publishing (est. 1999) is one of Georgia’s leading publishers, with a carefully curated list of Georgian and translated fiction, nonfiction, children’s and young adult literature. Our main objective is to publish outstanding literature and to be innovative in our outreach. Sulakauri represents many of Georgia’s prominent, award-winning authors. Our titles have been translated into more than 30 languages, with several adapted for film and television, including Journey to Karabakh, Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry and The Invisible Game. Authors whom we represent include Aka Morchiladze, Dato Turashvili, Zaira Arsenishvili, Temur Babluani, Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili, Lasha Bugadze, Tamta Melashvili, Archil Kikodze, Zaza Burchuladze, Beka Adamashvili, and others.
Cupid at the Kremlin Wall combines a daring personal journey with the turmoil of one of history’s most oppressive eras. The confined setting of the train provides a rich cinematic potential for suspense and psychological tension. Musya herself is a complex female protagonist: an ardent revolutionary forced to confront the collapse of her own ideals, making her character arc tragic and universally relatable.
Sulakauri Publishing
150 Davit Aghmashenebeli ave., 0112, Tbilisi, Georgia
Email: [email protected]
Nuka Gambashidze | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Aka Morchiladze | Author
Husband and wife Bohumil and Bohumila move from Prague to a remote borderland village with their mentally disabled son, hoping to save their failing marriage. In the suffocating summer heat, they try to read the village’s strange social codes, dismissing early misunderstandings as their own awkwardness. But the unease deepens: lies, accidents and unsettling incidents begin to accumulate. At night, something like a large animal seems to be prowling around their cottage at the bottom of a ravine, echoing mysterious flyers about a wolfish fairytale. When they return home from an outing, they find their son missing. Three days later, the villagers appear outside their house in festive costumes. Has the bizarre rural game become a violent ritual?
Zuzana Říhová (b. 1981) studied Czech language and literature and comparative literature at Charles University in Prague. Since 2007, she has worked at the Institute of Czech Literature at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and from 2014 to 2017 she was Head of Czech Studies at the University of Oxford. She has published the poetry collection I’ll Let You in My House (2016), the novella Little Eve (2018), and A Year of Transformation (2024), a book devoted to the pivotal year 1912 in the life of Franz Kafka. Her novel Playing Wolf (2021) has brought her significant international recognition: it was published in France by the prestigious Éditions du Seuil and in the United States by the acclaimed independent publisher Catapult, where it has been receiving enthusiastic reviews.
Argo Publishers is one of the leading Czech publishing houses, known for its strong literary profile and commitment to high-quality fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and children’s books. Founded in 1992, Argo has introduced Czech readers to major international voices while also championing contemporary Czech literature. Argo is widely respected for its editorial standards, innovative book design, and its broad, diverse catalogue. Over the past nine years, Argo has been actively developing its foreign rights list. Its authors are regularly shortlisted for the most prestigious Czech literary awards.
Zuzana Říhová’s Playing Wolf offers a distinct cinematic opportunity: a psychologically complex thriller rooted in Central European folklore, tailored for the growing global market of "elevated horror" and prestige genre cinema.
Argo
Milicova 13, 130 00, Prague, Czech Republic
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +420 608 069 396
Gabriela Kiszova | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Zuzana Říhová | Author
There’s a gaping chasm engulfing everything in the middle of the city – and for the corrupt official Nistor Polobok, it's more than just a mysterious hole in the asphalt. With each passing day, the crack widens. It swallows houses, people, and soon half the city. In nightmares, Polobok is haunted by his past. A fortune teller reveals to him that only by asking the "Queen of Hearts" for forgiveness can he avert disaster. But who is she? His betrayed wife? One of his lovers? Or the journalist whose camera he once destroyed in a fit of rage? Surprisingly, the crucial sin has nothing to do with adultery or bribe taking, but is instead something small and insignificant.
Iulian Ciocan was born on 6 April 1968 in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldavia. He was the presenter of a long-running Radio Free Europe broadcast about everyday life and current affairs in the Republic of Moldova. Translations of his fiction have appeared in magazines and anthologies in the United States, Germany, China, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Brazil. He has been a guest at the PEN World Voices Festival, New York (2011) and Amsterdam Literature Night (2016). In 2020, he was long listed for the Jean Monnet European Prize in France for Queen of Hearts. In April 2024, ARTE TV broadcasted a documentary about his novels published in France.
Livia Stoia Literary Agency, the rights holder of film rights for Iulian Ciocan's novels, represents a select list of acclaimed authors from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, focusing on literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and works with strong international potential. The agency actively promotes translation, publishing, and adaptation rights worldwide, collaborating with publishers, scouts, and producers across Europe. Its catalogue includes award-winning and bestselling authors whose works have been translated into numerous languages and recognized by major literary prizes.
Queen of Hearts is a satirical and dystopian socio-political novel set in post-communist Chisinau. The story follows a corrupt municipal official whose city begins to collapse into a mysterious, ever-expanding crater, creating a powerful allegory of corruption, moral decay and social disintegration. It is a novel of a man’s deeper self, confronted with his own sins and vices. It portrays the image of all post-Soviet societies, focusing on both Moldova's particularities and societies' weak spots in general, making it relatable to a wide audience, who might not be familiar with the historical events in this part of Europe but is interested in finding out more. The satirical and humorous parts are also key-points for a cinematic adaptation.
Agentia Literara Livia Stoia
Garlei 58, 013724, Bucharest, Romania
Email: [email protected]
Livia Stoia | Film Rights Holder
Email: [email protected]
Iulian Ciocan | Author
When a powerful wave sweeps a young beaver named Kora away from her family, she sets off on a journey to find her way back and hopefully reunite with her loved ones. At first she faces many challenges, but gradually she gathers the courage to keep going, making friends and sparking adventures wherever she goes. Kora is never sure whether she’ll make it back home, and even if she does, will she feel the same as before the disaster? The book is a unique journey through the urban and suburban sprawl through the eyes, ears and nose of one of the city’s humble little residents. It reveals the important role that even the littlest creatures play in the great, wide world.
Born in 1982 and raised in Warsaw, Adam Robiński graduated from Warsaw University in 2006. He started his career as a journalist, working for newspapers and magazines. His literary debut Backroad Landscapes, a collection of essays on the links between humans and nature, was published in 2017 and marked his shift to longer forms of writing. He has published a number of books, as he continues to explore how human and more-than-human worlds mix. He has received several literary awards (Conrad Festival 2018, Empik Discoveries 2019, Identitas Award), travel-writing prizes (Travelery 2019, Mountain Book of the Year 2020), nominations, and scholarships.
Founded in 2011, Widnokrąg is an independent publisher driven by curiosity, empathy and courage. We create books we would love to read to our own children: wise, moving, beautifully illustrated stories that open minds and spark conversation. Our catalogue of 120+ titles brings together acclaimed international voices, outstanding Polish authors and illustrators, restored classics, and books that do not shy away from difficult themes. Award-winning in Poland (nominations, distinctions and awards – Ibby, Polish Book Publishers Association, Good Pages Editorial Award, Warsaw Literary Award) and abroad (White Raven, BIBF Ananas, CICLA) supported by major cultural grants and committed to sustainable printing, Widnokrąg combines literary beauty with social sensitivity and care for the planet.
The story is an empowering tale for young people, teaching independence, self-confidence, and shared responsibility for their surroundings. It combines an emotionally engaging adventure with a timely ecological message. Through the story of Kora, a young beaver searching for her home and family, the film is able to speak directly to children about courage, resilience, friendship, and care for the natural world. Its animal protagonist, vivid river landscapes, and journey structure offer strong visual potential for family cinema. At the same time, the story has cross-generational appeal: it can entertain children, move parents and grandparents, and create a shared experience around themes that are both intimate and universal – home, belonging, and our relationship with nature.
Widnokrąg
Matejki 14, 05-501, Piaseczno, Poland
Email: [email protected]
Anna Nowacka-Devillard | Publisher, Film Rights Holder
Email: [email protected]
Adam Robiński | Author
Email: [email protected]
The book tells the true story of journalist Patrik Banga, who describes his rise from a life of deprivation in a Roma community to his prominent status in the Czech media. The narrative begins in the 1990s in Žižkov, Prague, showing a place riddled with despondency, drugs, alcohol, prostitution and street-fighting, where growing up within the local Roma community was a guarantee of one thing only – a life of more of the same. In raw, remorseless fashion, Banga describes the teenage years of a Roma boy who from an early age knows only rejection, criminalization, racism and police brutality. His search for a real way out is strewn with obstacles and losses, but his belief that everyone is an individual remains unshakeable.
Patrik Banga is a journalist, musician and IT entrepreneur. Since 2007, he has worked in the newsroom of the news portal iDNES.cz. He has also worked as a reporter for Czech Television’s flagship evening news programme. He is one of the makers of the documentary film The Ghetto as a System (2012). His blog attracts over one million visitors. In 2022, he published his first book The Real Way Out.
At Host, one of the largest independent publishing houses in the Czech Republic, we have focused on contemporary Czech and international writing for almost thirty years. The Host brand has become a guarantee of high-quality literature in many genres. Host has received numerous awards in the Czech Republic, including the Magnesia Litera, Czech State Award for Literature, Czech Book Prize, Jiří Orten Prize, Gold Ribbon, Literary Critics’ Award, etc. Our authors include Alena Mornštajnová and Kateřina Tučková, whose bestselling works have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have been translated into numerous languages.
The book is well suited for a film adaptation because it combines a powerful true story with a compelling personal journey from poverty and social exclusion to professional success. Set in the vividly portrayed Roma community of 1990s Prague, it offers strong dramatic conflict, emotional depth, and authentic characters. Its universal themes of resilience, identity, prejudice, and overcoming obstacles make it both socially relevant and emotionally engaging for a wide audience.
Host
Radlas 5, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic
Email: [email protected]
Simona Barešová | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Michaela Dermauw | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Patrik Banga | Author
A lonely comic-book artist searches for his missing friend Erik, a sociologist who disappeared while researching a strange phenomenon in the Slovak region of Gemer. His journey leads him to “the Zone” – an isolated territory where heavy metal contamination has caused hereditary depression, mutations and disturbing abilities. He discovers that a local bookseller, Welsh, is recruiting Zone inhabitants as untraceable assassins, including people who can kill with words, invisibility or pure self-hatred. Erik’s own power – total mimicry – has cost him his identity after absorbing too many fictional characters. Finally, the narrator learns that he also comes from the Zone: his involuntary gift is to repel everyone around him.
Daniel Majling (1980) is a Slovak writer, dramatist, comics author and dramaturge at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. He gained wider recognition with the cult comic book Rudo, awarded the Muriel Award for Best Comic Book Translation in the Czech Republic. His graphic novel Zóna established him as one of the leading voices of contemporary Central European comics. His prose collection Ruzká Klazika became a major literary success, was shortlisted for the prestigious Anasoft Litera Prize, and awarded both the Anasoft Litera Readers’ Award and the René Prize in 2018. His books have been translated into Czech, Polish and Hungarian. Majling’s work combines absurd humour, dark satire and strong cinematic storytelling.
BRAK is an independent Bratislava-based publishing house and part of the wider BRaK platform, which also includes the Bratislava Book Festival and activities focused on book design and illustration. Its catalogue combines original Slovak literature, translated fiction, graphic novels, comics and children’s books. BRAK publishes acclaimed authors such as Daniel Majling, Marek Vadas, Mircea Cărtărescu, Adania Shibli, Italo Calvino and Dorothy Parker. Its books have received or have been shortlisted for major literary and book-design awards, including Anasoft Litera, the René Prize and The Most Beautiful Books of Slovakia. In 2026, BRAK’s Zbierka zážitkovej poézie by Erik Šimšík received the Gold Medal in the international Best Book Design from All Over the World competition.
I believe The Zone could make a very funny, strange and visually memorable film. It has everything a good adaptation needs: a specific world, absurd characters, dark humour, mystery and a strong sense of place. The idea of a forgotten Slovak region producing depressed antiheroes with bizarre powers is both original and surprisingly cinematic. It could be entertaining, uncomfortable and touching at the same time – a story that makes people laugh, but also recognize something painfully true about loneliness, failure and life on the margins.
BRAK, s.r.o.
Vajnorská 50, 83103, Bratislava, Slovakia
Email: [email protected]
František Malík | Publisher
Email: [email protected]
Daniel Majling | Author
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