KVIFF Talents Program Presents New Projects

Part of the KVIFF Promises platform, the KVIFF Talents program has supported bold and dynamic approaches in cinema and other areas of audiovisual production in the Czech Republic and Slovakia since 2022. This year, it will once again support six audiovisual works in the concept stage, selected from more than one hundred submitted projects. The selected participants will receive development funding, mentoring from industry experts, the opportunity to present their projects at a special event during the Karlovy Vary IFF, facilities for producing proof-of-concept videos, stays at film festivals, and residency programs in Karlovy Vary.

In the Feature Pool, dedicated to feature-length films, three projects will be presented:

Exposed, the feature fiction debut by director Klára Tasovská, produced by Lukáš Kokeš, is set against the backdrop of the semi-legal queer milieu of socialist Czechoslovakia. The mysterious thriller, unfolding over 24 hours in Prague during the 1980s era of “normalisation”, tells—through the story of a young female photographer—a universal story of personal dilemma and the courage to stand up for one’s own version of reality.

The intimate drama Nera is the feature fiction debut of director Ivana Vogrinc Vidali and screenwriter Darja Miková. The story follows Tereza, a recent high school graduate whose life is upended by a relentless diagnosis that gradually robs her of her sight. She is rescued from despair by Nera, a guide dog in whom she finds a kindred spirit, but she soon encounters the limits of a system that has trained Nera for absolute obedience and the suppression of instinct.

The project Until We Leave, the debut of screenwriter Lucia Čižinská and produced by Tereza Wiński, tells the story of four women in their thirties who travel to France to visit a close friend with a terminal illness. Their shared trip gradually turns into a confrontation with their own lives, relationships and visions of the future. This intimate drama blends elements of tragicomedy and an observational road movie.

In the Creative Pool, dedicated to projects of any audiovisual format, two fiction series and one animated film will be presented this year.

The series Burning Witches, written by Martina Babišová and Věra Starečková and produced by Dagmar Sedláčková, is set in the 17th century on the Bohemian-Polish borderlands and follows noblewoman Katuše as she attempts to save her sister from being burned at the stake while also striving to emancipate those around her.

The Inhalatorium, the feature-length animated debut by director and animator Bára Anna Stejskalová, follows a thirteen-year-old girl who arrives at a mountain sanatorium to treat her asthma. When her friend disappears and the staff refuse to speak of him, she sets out with others to trace his steps.

The final project of this year’s KVIFF Talents is the series K-Dream by director Adam Sedlák and producers Linda Krejčí and Monika Soukup, which tells the story of NIKŎ, a European obsessed with K-pop. After failing to launch his career as a K-pop star, he returns to Europe to found the first K-pop idol academy in Berlin. The lead role will be played by Adam Mišík, who is also involved in the project as a co-screenwriter.

In previous editions, the program has supported a total of 23 projects. Its participants have included, among others, recent Czech Lion award winners such as director Terézia Halamová and producer Natália Pavlove, as well as director and screenwriter Dužan Duong.

Partners of KVIFF Talents are the ČEZ Foundation, Mattoni mineral water, Oneplay, Business Development Agency of the Karlovy Vary Region and Forbes.