PRAGUE: Leading young Czech and international actor Jiří Mádl (Borgia, Four Suns, Colette) is finishing work on his debut film as a director and scriptwriter, the ultra-low budget To See a Sea.

 PRAGUE: Director of the State Cinematography Fund Helena Bezděk Fraňková announced that 500 million CZK (18 224 000 EUR) of film incentive funds will be available available for 2014.

PRAGUE: Film Distributor Artcam has launched a project called “Delam kino” (I Make My Own Cinema) as an alternative distribution for quality films which are difficult to find regular cinemas.

PRAGUE: Czech filmmakers hope the new project 31s will open up a new source of income from voluntary online payments for digital copies of their films.

PRAGUE: Debuting director Michal Samir finished a marathon three-day filming schedule on Hany, a drama shot on location in the famed Czech brewery city of Plzen, on 21 September 2013.

PRAGUE: Historical TV productions are energizing the Czech international film service industry, with two TV projects for Germany’s SAT 1 and Norwegian TV scheduled to production within the next month, joining a busy line-up of TV films and series filming on locations in the Czech Republic.

PRAGUE: A 160 member film crew from South Korea's capital Soul has wrapped their 8-day shoot in Ostrava and Prague. The project, with working title International Market, is produced by Zik Lee of Korea's JK Film and directed by Jae Kyun Yoon, known for his commercial hit Tidal Wave (Haeundae), nominated for the Black Dragon Awards for best film and direction.

PRAGUE: Petr Vachler, founder of the Czech Lions awards, has begun shooting his second film –  feature length documentary The Meaning and Mystery of Life (Tajemství a smysl života), in which he combines elements of animation, drama, documentary, fantasy and mystery.

PRAGUE: Czech Oscar winner Jan Svěrák is in production on the music fairy tale Tři bratři  (Three Brothers), based on the script by his father, Zdeněk, who has incorporated music and texts from children's operettas he wrote with Jaroslav Uhlíř for the Czech National Theatre.

Czech producers, distributors, cinemas and festivals are rushing to apply for grants from the newest iteration of the state Cinematography Fund following a European Commission ruling Tuesday approving the system's rules. They have been on hold since the beginning of the year, pending the sanctioning of the new Czech film law, implemented in January.