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.

PRAGUE: The two-month shoot in Prague and Brno of comedy Dedictví or Kurvaseneříka (The Heritage 2) has wrapped, following up on the film's first part

BRATISLAVA: Velvet Terrorists (Zamatoví teroristi), a Slovak /Czech /Croatian coproduction directed by a trio of Slovak directors, Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský and award-winning Slovak documentary director Peter Kerekes, premieres in the East of the West competition before it opens in cinemas in September 2013. 

BRATISLAVA: Miracle (Zázrak), a Slovak/Czech coproduction by Slovak director and co-writer Juraj Lehotský, will have a theatrical release in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the fall, following its debut as the opening film of the East of the West competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF.

PRAGUE: Babovřesky produced by Prague based production outfit Nogup, a summer comedy directed by Zdenek Troška, has taken in over 83,360,000 CZK in box office and nearly 615,000 viewers, breaking records and leading the 2013 box office Czech charts. Together with another local hit children’s animated film Lucky Four Serving the King with 26, 550.197 czk, Czech films are holding down the first and third places in the cummunlative box off ice for 2013 so far.

BRATISLAVA: Velvet Terrorists (Zamatoví teroristi), a Slovak /Czech /Croatian coproduction directed by a trio of Slovak directors, Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský and award-winning Slovak documentary director Peter Kerekes, will open in cinemas in September 2013.