At Rotterdam International Film Festival 2020, four Czech films and co-productions will be part of official selection. The documentary The Alchemical Furnace by Adam Ol'ha and Jan Daňhel will celebrate its world premiere in Deep Focus, along with Icelandic-Swedish-Czech co-production documentary The Vasulka Effect. Communism and the Net or the End of Representative Democracy, directed by Karel Vachek, will be screened in The Tyger Burns section and Mira Fornay will present her new drama Cook F**k Kill in Voices.
Czech films at Rotterdam IFF 2020
THE ALCHEMICAL FURNACE
DEEP FOCUS: Regained
World Premiere
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic 2020 / 117 min
Directed by: Jan Daňhel, Adam Oľha
Produced by: Jaromír Kallista, Jan Švankmajer / Athanor (CZ)
Co-produced by: Zuzana Mistríková, Ľubica Orechovská / PubRes (SK)
Jan Švankmajer at 85 years of age is one of the most prominent artists of European cinema. His work has inspired and guided generations of directors, and his work represents a sharp and merciless exploration of human nature which is entirely unique. Films such as Alice, Faust and Little Otik changed forever the image of stop-motion and opened a world of possibilities in terms of the representation of the inner self. Over three years, directors Adam Oľha and Jan Daňhel followed the life of Jan Švankmajer, from his collaboration with old friend and producer Jaromír Kallista to his memory of Eva Švankmajerová, his wife and creative partner, muse and inseparable other half of the director. Shot on various film formats, using found footage and with a touch of Czech humor, The Alchemical Furnace is an ode to creation and to companionship.
READ MORE ABOUT JAN ŠVANKMAJER'S INSECT
SCREENINGS
SUN 01/26 | 22:15 | Cinerama 7 (Press)
TUE 01/28 | 18:45 | Cinema 5
WED 01/29 | 10:45 | Pathé 6
THU 01/30 | 20:45 | LantarenVenster 3
SALES & FESTIVALS
Pavla Kallistová / Athanor
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+420 603 499 828
Ľubica Orechovská / PubRes
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+421 905 639 429
COMMUNISM AND THE NET OR THE END OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
THE TYGER BURNS
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic 2019 / 335 min
Directed by: Karel Vachek
Produced by: Mikuláš Novotný, Radim Procházka / Background Films (CZ)
Co-produced by: Atelier.doc (SK), Czech Television (CZ), UPP (CZ)
The six-hour essay in four parts examines the history of regimes and revolutions, leaders and martyrs, from a philosophical perspective. The collage of personal memories, staged scenes and archives of collective memory compares the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution and shows the exposure, conflict, crisis, and catharsis of the post-communist society. Democracy can be saved through creative laughter, dissolving the untouchability and hypertrophic egos of the representatives of state institutions. The Internet frees the society from representatives of the non-functional connecting link that prevents direct communication between citizens and institutions of power.
GET INSIDE THE MIND OF KAREL VACHEK
TRAILER
SCREENINGS
SAT 01/25 | 17:00 | LantarenVenster 4
SUN 01/26 | 09:30 | Cinerama 7
SALES & FESTIVALS
Mikuláš Novotný / Background Films
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+420 777 910 290
COOK F**K KILL
VOICES
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic 2019 / 116 min
Directed by: Mira Fornay
Produced by: Viktor Schwarcz / Cineart TV Prague (CZ), Mira Fornay / Mirafox (SK)
Co-produced by: Czech Television (CZ), Radio and Television Slovakia (SK), Synergia Film (CZ)
Jaroslav, a handsome and seemingly good-natured son, father and a decent husband, is, as a matter of fact, pathologically jealous of his wife Blanka. He is very much afraid that one day she would leave him together with their three children. Jaroslav and his family don´t hesitate to employ violence, deceit and terror against others, which ultimately leads to a family tragedy.
READ MORE ABOUT MIRA FORNAY
TRAILER
SCREENINGS
SUN 01/26 | 17:30 | LantarenVenster 3
MON 01/27 | 09:30 | Cinerama 6
TUE 01/28 | 22:30 | de Doelen Jurriaanse Zaal
SAT 02/01 | 09:00 | Pathé 2
SALES & FESTIVALS
Karina Korenblum / Cercamon
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+420 603 880 048
Czech co-productions at Rotterdam IFF 2020
THE VASULKA EFFECT
DEEP FOCUS: Regained
Iceland, Sweden, Czech Republic 2019 / 85 min
Directed by: Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir
Produced by: Sagafilm (IS), Krumma Films (IS)
Co-produced by: Sveriges Television (SE), Produkce Radim Procházka (CZ), Česká televize (CZ), Bullitt Film (DK), Nonami AB (SE)
The life and work of pioneers of video art Steina and Woody Vasulka. Their history with video dates back to the late 60 ́s when they lived and worked in New York. Some have called them the grandparents of the “YouTube generation”, or “grandparents of video art”, seem forgotten by the art world. With humor and serenity, they are struggling with finances and how to leave their media archives to the world. We start to understand the major impact video had on art and society from the 60 ́s until now, a period referred to as the second renaissance, where media art contributed to the decentralization of art and corporate media. With only a handful of allies we see them being rediscovered by art collectors and museums.
SCREENINGS
THU 01/23 | 12:30 | LantarenVenster 4
SAT 01/25 | 21:30 | KINO 2
FRI 01/31 | 09:15 | Cinerama 4
SALES & FESTIVALS
Juno Films
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+1 (609) 933-1806
Czech Film Center operates as a division of the Czech Film Fund
BERLIN: Projects and producers from Romania, Poland, Croatia and Bulgaria have been selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market (22-26 February 2020).
New short film project by Mateusz Pacewicz, the writer of Polish international hit Corpus Christi, will be presented at When East Meets West, together with new projects by award-winning filmmakers: Estonian Madli Laane, Nikos Tseberopoulos from Greece and Serbian Svetislav Dragomirovic.
MIDPOINT Shorts, our leading program dedicated to script and project development of short films, will conclude in Trieste with its second workshop and a showcase followed by a networking platform.
The program is led by Czech director and script consultant Pavel Marek who is accompanied by Lithuanian producer tutor Marija Razgute.
The program of the final workshop (out of two in total) includes group meetings, individual consultations, lectures and pitching training.
The participants will have the unique opportunity to pitch their short film projects in front of the audience full of experts from the short film industry.
The project showcase of MIDPOINT Shorts will take place within When East Meets West co-production forum on Monday, January 20, 2020 from 15:00 to 16:00 in hotel Savoia.
For the accredited guests of WEMW.
Please bear in mind that the seating capacity is limited. In case of a serious interest, please reserve your seat by sending an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Following projects will be presented:
Team Building / Poland
Mateusz Pacewicz / writer, director
Ludka Kierczak / producer
Jungle.Law / Estonia
Madli Lääne / writer, director
Anneli Ahven / producer
Soul Food / Greece
Nikos Tseberopoulos / writer, director
Eleni Kossyfidou / producer
Tell No One / Serbia
Svetislav Dragomirovic / writer, director
Nevena Savic / producer
Click here for more information about the workshop and the program.
MIDPOINT Happy Hour at WEMW
You are warmly welcome to join us for a glass of wine on Monday, January 20 in Trieste and meet the faces of MIDPOINT! It will be the perfect opportunity to meet all the participants, tutors as well as the team.
MIDPOINT Happy Hour / Monday, January 20 / 16.30 - 17.30 at the Library of Hotel Savoia Excelsior Palace
Meet us!
MIDPOINT team is traveling to Trieste Film Festival and When East Meets West co-production forum, get in touch to schedule a meeting!
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., MIDPOINT Director
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., MIDPOINT Feature Launch & Shorts Program Coordinator
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MIDPOINT Shorts 2019-2020 is realized with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and Czech Film Fund. It is presented in cooperation with When East Meets West. MIDPOINT operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
The program designed by When East Meets West in collaboration with MIDPOINT is announcing its first-ever participants.
MIDPOINT Cold Open targets independent producers, with a background in feature film producing, aspiring to shift to high quality television content and offers a diverse selection of participating countries.
The program runs within When East Meets West 2020 in Trieste, Italy and will be led by tutors Gabor Krigler (HU), Steve Matthews (UK), Nebojsa Taraba (HR) and Meinholf Zurhorst (DE).
For the 3-day workshop, 10 European producers have been selected.
And who are they?
Karin Berghammer / Austria
Claudia Schröter / Germany
Eva Blondiau / Germany
Johannes Jancke / Germany
Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos / Greece
Luigi Giuseppe Chimienti / Italy
Nadia Trevisan / Italy
Radu Stancu / Romania
Dragana Jovovic / Serbia
Natalia Libet / Ukraine
Within the program, two lectures will be open to When East Meets West guests:
Gabor Krigler: The Idea to Spawn a Thousand Stories (And How to Run With It)
Nebojsa Taraba: How to Switch from Sprint to Marathon
For more information about the program, its participants and lectures, click here.
MIDPOINT Cold Open is realized in partnership with When East Meets West. MIDPOINT operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Czech cinema returns to the Oscars' red carpet! Daughter, directed by Daria Kashcheeva, produced by Zuzana Roháčová / FAMU and co-produced by MAUR film has been nominated for an Oscar in the category Animated Short Film.
Our Daughter is a dream of every parent. She is doing well and makes the parents happy. She grew up in the modest environment, but early on she confidently went to the world. In addition, her spiritual mother Daria Kascheeva is a great person and a talented filmmaker, which would make every producer happy. She gave birth to a remarkable film" said Martin Vandas, co-producer of the film.
Daugter's director, FAMU student Daria Kashcheeva, continues in a series of fantastic achievements. In the past months, Kashcheeva's film won the major prize at the world’s biggest animation film festival in Annecy, the student Oscar and it was also invited to more than 60 festivals all over the world, including Toronto IFF, Sundance IFF, Melbourne IFF or Tallinn BNFF.
Read more in the article HERE.
Check the TRAILER.
WEMW unveils all juries and the final line up of LAST STOP TRIESTE, THIS IS IT, FIRST CUT + and COLD OPEN
Press releases 13-01-2020Trieste, January 13th, 2020 – The 10th edition of When East Meets West kicks off in less than one week, on January 19th, with an exciting double focus on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary, Moldova, Romania. After having revealed the Co-Production Forum project selection, WEMW is now proud to announce that Marjorie Bendeck (CONNECTING COTTBUS), Tobias Pausinger (THE MATCH FACTORY) and Federico Pedroni (RAI CINEMA) will be the 2020 jury members and will decide the winners of all WEMW awards. Alongside the last details about the Co-Production Forum,WEMW is happy to finally unveil the complete line-up of the three side sections targeting films in post-production stage.
Now in its sixth edition, Last Stop Trieste, the work in progress section run together with the Trieste Film Festival, will present 5 creative documentaries to an exclusive panel of 40 international sales agents, festival programmers and TV commissioning editors. All films will be in the running for theHBO Europe Award(cash prize of 1.000 EUR),Flow Digital Cinema Award, Film Centre Serbia LSTAward (a cash prize of 2.500 EUR) and the brand new First Hand Fabulous Award (consistingin rough cut dramaturgy as well as promotion and distribution consultancy). The LST 2020 international jury will featurePierre-Alexis Chevit (MARCHÉ DU FILM - FESTIVAL DE CANNES), Jutta Krug (WDR) and Alex Szalat (DOCS UP FUND).
For the third edition, When East Meets West and Trieste Film Festival will renew the partnership with Milano Film Network for the section exclusively dedicated to long feature fiction films and hybrid works produced or co-produced by Italian producers. This is IT will present 9 films ready for festival premiere/international distribution and a jury composed by Cosima Finkbeiner (BETA CINEMA), Olivier Pelisson (SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE), Alexia De Vito MIA will deliver the prestigious Laser Film Award.
Last but not least,WEMW will co-host the first international fiction work in progress section First Cut +, a portfolio of 8 fiction feature films at the stage of post-production, which participated to First Cut Lab, with a focus on Central & Eastern Europe. All projects are available in world premiere and looking for an International sales agent. First Cut + jury members Yohann Comte (CHARADES), Izabela Igel (ORKA FILM) and Thierry Jobin (FRIBOURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL) will deliver the Orka FilmsAward for colour grading services and theSub-Ti Awardfor subtitles services.
Alongside the pitching forum and the three side sections, WEMW will feature a rich programme to celebrate its 10thanniversary that will start with the presentation of the brandnew WEMW report “Co-production trends between Eastern and Western Europe between 2008-2019”, and also includes“In the Spotlight”, where representatives from this year's spotlight territories will give a comprehensive insight into current trends in their film industries;EAVE will lead the session “Streamers by the Numbers”, a plenary for film professionals interested in how the sVoD platforms are performing given their newly competitive environment.
EWA will organise a showcase of the success stories with participants from previous editions, where prospective mentors and future mentees will be invited to share their views in the session “EWA Network Mentoring Programme Revisited @WEMW”.
Finally, ACE will for the first time in Trieste host the “ACE Interview with Roberto Olla”: the executive director of the European film fund Eurimages will be interviewed by esteemed European producer and ACE board member Cedomir Kolar.
Finally, thanks to the cooperation with MIDPOINT, WEMWwill launch the first edition of Cold Open, a program targetingindependent producers with a background in feature film producingwho aspire to shift to high quality television content, which offers a diverse selection of participating countries.Thisone-off event consists of group sessions, individual consultations and two lectures dedicated to TV series open to all WEMW participants: “The idea to spawn a thousand stories (and how to run with it)”and“How to Switch from Sprint to Marathon”.The ongoing cooperation with MIDPOINT will also this year bring 13 teams from Central Eastern Europe to Trieste to best develop their long feature and short projects.
The 2020 programme combines many different ingredients to celebrate 10 successful years of WEMW to the fullest and we look forward to welcoming more than 550 registered participants from over 40 different countries to the city.
The 5 documentaries that will be presented at Last Stop Trieste, the 9 feature films selected for This is IT, the 8 international films chosen for First Cut + and the 10 producers participating in the first edition of Cold Open are:
LAST STOP TRIESTE BETWEEN TWO WARS (working title) director: Alina Gorlova producers: Maksym Nakonechnyi, Ilona Bicevska, Patrick Hamm countries: Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Qatar EVERYTHING WILL NOT BE FINE directors: Adrian Pîrvu, Helena Maksyom producers: Alexandru Solomon, Ada Solomon countries: Romania, Ukraine HOLY FATHER director: Andrei Dascalescu producer: Anda Ionescu countries: Romania | I’LL STAND BY YOU directors: Virginija Vareikye, Maximilien Dejoie producers: Lukas Trimonis, Maximilien Dejoie, Mark Olexa countries: Lithuania, Italy SOVIET MAN director: Ivo Briedis producers: Elina Gedina Ducena, Inese Boka Grube countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic |
This is IT ATLAS director: Niccolò Castelli producers: Villi Hermann, Michela Pini countries: Switzerland, Belgium, Italy CENT’ANNI director: Maja Prelog producer: Rok Bicek co-producers: Alessandro Leone, Massimo Casula countries: Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Austria DIVINATIONS director: Leandro Picarella producers: Luca Scarabelli, Luciano Barisone, Serge Lalou countries: Italia, Francia THE ANGEL IN THE WALL director: Lorenzo Bianchini producers: Sabrina Baracetti, Thomas Bertacche, Samantha Faccio country: Italy THE HOUSE OF LOVE director: Luca Ferri producers: Federico Minetti, Andrea Zanoli, Pietro De Tilla | THE JUNGLE director: Cristian Natoli producers: Chiara Toffolo, Anita Juka country: Italy THE LAST RIDE OF THE WOLVES director: Alberto De Michele producer: Francesco Bonsembiante countries: Holland, Italy THE STONEBREAKER directors: Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio producers: Alessandro Borrelli countries: Italy, France THROUGH THE WAVES director: Marco Amenta producers: Simonetta Amenta, Cristina Pinto Marques country: Italy |
FIRST CUT + 24 HOURS OF SUNSHINE director: Juris Poskus producer: Madara Melberga country: Latvia AND THEY MAY STILL BE ALIVE TODAY director: Tudor Cristian Jurgiu producer: Bogdan Craciun country: Romania CHRYSANTHEMUM DAY director: Simon Mozgovyi producer: Alex Chepiga, Taras Bosak, Artem Koliubaiev country: Ukraine LISTEN director: Ana Rocha de Sousa producer: Paula Vaccaro countries: Portugal, United Kingdom | THE GETAWAY KING director: Mateusz Rakowicz producers: Andrzej Papis, Maciej Sowinski, Aleksandra Kułakowska, Agnieszka Odorowicz, Beata Barcz and Ewa M. Pawłowska country: Poland NIMBY director: Teemu Nikki producer: Jani Pösö countries: Finland, Germany, Sweden SIMPLE THINGS director: Grzegorz Zariczny producers: Magdalena Sztorc, Przemysław Miekinia country: Poland THE STAFFROOM director: Sonja Tarokic Ankica Juric Tilic – Kinorama country: Croatia |
COLD OPEN Karin Berghammer company: Berg Hammer Film country: Austria Eva Blondiau company: Color of May country: Germany Luigi Chimienti company: Dispàrte country: Italy Johannes Jancke company: Bon Voyage Films country: Germany Dragana Jovovic company: Non-Aligned Flms country: Serbia | Natalia Libet country: Ukraine Claudia Schroeter companies: Kinderfilm GmbH/Grown Up Films country: Germany Radu Stancu company: deFilm country: Romania Nadia Trevisan company: Nefertiti Film country: Italy Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos company: Plays2Place country: Greece |
WEMW is organized by the FVG Audiovisual Fund and the Trieste Film Festival in collaboration with ACE, EAVE, MIDPOINT, Creative Europe Desk Italy, EURIMAGES, EFA, German Film, and the support of Creative Europe/MEDIA Programme, MiBACT - Direzione Generale per il Cinema, CEI - Central European Initiative and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The 2020 East & West focus is in cooperation and with the support of Federal Office of Culture, FOCAL, Film - und Medienstiftung NRW, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Berlin-Brandenburg Medienboard, Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Filmförderung, Austrian Film Institute, Carinthia Film Commission, FISA – Film Industry Support Austria, Cine Tirol Film Commission, CINESTYRIA Filmcommission & Fonds, National Film Institute-Hungary, Romanian Film Center.
LOS ANGELES: North Macedonia’s Honeyland by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov, Poland’s Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa and Czech student film Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva have received nominations for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards. It is the first time that a Macedonian film has received two Oscar nominations.
TRIESTE: Latvian, Romanian, Lithuanian, Czech, Slovenian, Polish and Croatian projects are among the 22 projects selected for Last Stop Trieste, This is IT and First Cut +, while a Serbian is among the 10 producers participating in the first edition of Cold Open at the 10th edition of When East Meets West. WEMW will be held from 19 to 21 January 2020 within the Trieste Film Festival (17-23 January 2020).
TRIESTE: Eleven feature films will vie in the main competition of the 31st Trieste Film Festival, which will be held from 17 to 23 January 2020.
WEMW unveils all juries and the final line up of LAST STOP TRIESTE, THIS IS IT, FIRST CUT + and COLD OPEN
Festivals 13-01-2020Trieste, January 13th, 2020 – The 10th edition of When East Meets West kicks off in less than one week, on January 19th, with an exciting double focus on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary, Moldova, Romania. After having revealed the Co-Production Forum project selection, WEMW is now proud to announce that Marjorie Bendeck (CONNECTING COTTBUS), Tobias Pausinger (THE MATCH FACTORY) and Federico Pedroni (RAI CINEMA) will be the 2020 jury members and will decide the winners of all WEMW awards. Alongside the last details about the Co-Production Forum, WEMW is happy to finally unveil the complete line-up of the three side sections targeting films in post-production stage.
