03-07-2019

FNE at KVIFF 2019: WEMW and KVIFF Introduce First Cut+

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    Official opening and presentation of First Cut +; Head of Film Industry Office Hugo Rosák and director Alessandro Groppelo Official opening and presentation of First Cut +; Head of Film Industry Office Hugo Rosák and director Alessandro Groppelo photo: KVIFF

    KARLOVY VARY: First Cut Lab, Trieste FF’s When East Meets West (WEMW), Karlovy Vary IFF, MIDPOINT and Less Is More (LIM) are joining forces on First Cut+, a new workshop programme that prepares films to be launched on the market. 

    The project, introduced by WEMW’s Alessandro Gropplero and Karlovy Vary Industry head Hugo Rosak, will select 16 projects that are ready to be screened and that have previously participated in First Cut Lab, MIDPOINT or LIM for a three-day programme that consists of a consultancy workshop and Works in Progress presentation. The selection will consist of films from countries of low audiovisual capacity as defined by the MEDIA Creative Europe programme. WEMW will host eight of the selected projects and Karlovy Vary IFF will host the remaining eight projects. 

    Gropplero outlined the five focal points of the new programme:

    • Audience engagement, with a focus on digital marketing and social media
    • Cooperation with sales agents
    • Festival strategy
    • Film branding through working with a publicist to create a complete press kit
    • Writing a scenario for the film’s trailer

    In addition to the new programme, First Cut Lab will also be hosting national workshops in nine countries, including the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Lithuania and Poland.

    First Cut Lab has worked with 30 films since it was founded five years ago. It has recently expanded its partnerships to include working with the Karlovy Vary IFF and the regional initiative RE-ACT.