BRATISLAVA: Zuzana Liová is in development with Waiting / Čakanie, an intimate drama about a man who just turned 60 and learns that he’s dying of cancer. The principal photography of this Slovak/Czech/German coproduction is due to start in December 2017.

BRATISLAVA: Psychological drama The Cellar / Pivnica directed by Russian Igor Voloshin will start shooting in May 2017. The film is a Slovak/Russian/Czech coproduction set in Slovakia. The cast includes Slovak and Czech actors, as well as well-known Russian actress Olga Simonova.

BRATISLAVA: Director Mariana Čengel Solčanská starts developing The Maidservant / Slúžka, a strong feminist story placed in Vienna during WWI. Based on Hana Lasicová’s bestseller published in 2013, The Maidservant will be the first Slovak film ever to deal with female homosexuality.

BRATISLAVA: Slovak production consultant company kaleidoscope introduced two films in postproduction at the Works in Progress, Industry Days - MFFK Febiofest (2-8 March 2017). Juraj Lehotský’s second feature film Nina and Pavol Pekarčík’s first long documentary A Long Day will be released in 2017.

BRATISLAVA: Slovak Film and Television Academy (SFTA) announced the nominations for the Sun in a Net national awards. The most nominations went to The Teacher directed by Jan Hřebejk, A Prominent Patient by Julius Ševčík and I, Olga Hepnarová, the debut feature by Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda.

BRATISLAVA: Slovak short documentary About My Sister by Barbora Sliepková was awarded best film at the 24th edition of MFFK Febiofest. Special mentions went to Polish films Lockjaw by Kordian Kądziela and Three Conversations on Life by Julia Staniszewska. The festival took place in Bratislava from 2 to 8 March 2017.

BRATISLAVA: Political thriller Kidnapping by Mariana Čengel Solčanská had the strongest opening weekend in the Slovak history. The film released on 2 March 2017 attracted 67,369 cinemagoers.

BRATISLAVA: Several distributors were interested at the Berlinale’s EFM in Iveta Grófová’s second feature film Little Harbour, which won Berlinale‘s Generation Kplus prize. Paris-based sales agent Loco Films hopes to start selling this Slovak/Czech coproduction before Cannes.

BRATISLAVA: The 24th edition of MFFK Febiofest is ready to run from 2 to 8 March 2016, with more than 100 films and the short film competition „In the Middle of Europe“. After Bratislava, the festival will travel to eleven cities across Slovakia.

In 2016 Slovak films continued to gather international and domestic success, powered by documentary film production, genre-bending feature films and award-winning coproductions. The Slovak Audiovisual Fund (AVF) had a budget of 7.5 m EUR in 2016, which is the biggest budget in its history.