Out, a multinational coproduction directed by Gyorgy Kristof, was presented at the Pitch & Feedback forum for Czech and Slovak films taking place on 2 July at the Karlovy Vary IFF ( www.kviff.com ). The five-member panel of experts were unanimous in their praise for the project, with one calling the script “a small masterpiece.”

The film is budgeted at 1.1 m EUR and will be produced by Sentimentalfilm ( www.sentimentalfilm.com ). The road movie follows the story of a middle-aged man who loses his job and has to go abroad for work and will be shot in Slovak, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Russian and Finnish. The film has lined up coproduction partners in Hungary, Latvia, and the Czech Republic.

Peter Kot, co-founder of Itafilm with Miroslav Brocka, told FNE, “We’re reopening Czech distribution after more than ten years.” In Slovakia, the company is the distributor for Sony Pictures Entertainment and for indie films. In the Czech Republic it will focus on independent films.

“We would like to make a special offer for Slovak productions which don’t have contacts with Czech distribution companies. We want to support Slovak films,” Kot, a Slovak native, said. The company is in negotiations with several other Slovak productions.