PRAGUE: The Owners / Vlastníci by Jiří Havelka tops the 27th Czech Lion nods with 12 nominations, followed by The Painted Bird / Nabarvené ptáče by Václav Marhoul with 11 nominations and Old Timers / Staříci by Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník with 10 nominations.

PRAGUE: Juraj Jakubisko is currently in postproduction with his new magical family fantasy Perinbaba and the Two Worlds, after more than two years of complicated production. The Czech/Slovak coproduction will be released by Bontonfilm in both the Czech and Slovak Republic in the first half of 2020.

PRAGUE: Jitka Kotrlová from Frame Films Production Company has been selected to participate in the 2020 Emerging Producers programme for documentary film producers, which kicks off at the 23rd edition of the Ji.hlava IDFF, taking place 24-29 October 2019. FNE spoke with Jitka Kotrlová about the issues facing documentary film producers.

PRAGUE: The Czech Film Fund Council has selected 10 out of 34 projects applying in the call for minority coproduction support. The total amount of the support is 774,893 EUR / 20m CZK. There are six feature films, three documentaries and one short animated film among the supported projects.

PRAGUE: The Czech Film Fund has distributed 469,759 EUR / 12m CZK for the production of eight documentaries and 1,409, 278 EUR / 36 m CZK for the production of 10 animated films.

PRAGUE: Czech director Slávek Horák has started shooting a biopic Havel about the prominent Czech playwright/dissident/president Václav Havel.  The project received one of the biggest production grants from the Czech Film Fund.

PRAGUE: The Czech Film Fund distributed 2,505,383 EUR / 64 m CZK to eight feature film projects. Tomáš Mašín, Tereza Nvotová and Beata Parkanová are among the winners announced on 9 August 2019.

PRAGUE: Jan Prušinovský, also known for his successful TV comedy series, has just started shooting his new feature film, the Czech/Slovak coproduction Mistakes / Chyby, in the Czech town of Příbram.

ZLIN: Highly anticipated teen drama Smečka / The Pack, directed by first time Czech director Tomáš Polenský, started shooting in Zlín on 24 July 2019. The film is set in the world of ice-hockey, where the hero becomes a target of tough bullying. Copenhagen-based LevelK has already acquired the world sales rights.

PRAGUE:  Petr Zahrádka, mostly known as a TV series director, started shooting his feature comedy Chlap na střídačku (no English title available) this week.  The popular cast, promising a new box office hit, includes Jiří Langmayer, Ivana Chýlková, Iva Janžurová and Lucie Žáčková.