PRAGUE: The Czech Film Fund has distributed 1,148,321 EUR / 30,150,000 CZK in production grants for minority coproductions and documentaries.  A new feature film by the Romanian Radu Jude and a new documentary by Miroslav Janek are among those supported.

BRATISLAVA: The Association of Independent Producers has initiated a campaign under the title I am going to the cinema / Idem do kina, that aims to bring viewers and Slovak films back to the cinema. This campaign supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund was created to help cinema operators, distributors and producers to deal with losses caused by the pandemic. Slovakia has one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 infections and death in Europe.

BRATISLAVA: The young talented Slovak filmmaker Tereza Nvotová will go into production with her second fiction feature film The Nigthsiren / Svetlonoc. This Slovak/Czech/French coproduction drama received Eurimages coproduction support, announced on 6 July 2020, and a Eurimages Development Award in 2018.

BRATISLAVA: The fairytale O liečivej vode (The World of Water) directed by Ján Sebechlebský is one of the first films to be shot in Slovakia after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The Slovak/Czech coproduction is planned to be released on RTVS on Christmas Eve 2020.

BRATISLAVA: Igor Luther, the world-renowned cinematographer of the Oscar-winning film The Tin Drum, died at age 77. He worked with a number of important directors, including Juraj Jakubisko, Vojtěch Jasný, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Helmut Förnbacher, Michael Verhoeven, Ulrich Schamoni, Andrzej Wajda, Volker Schlöndorff, Michael Haneke, and Bernhard Wicki.

BRATISLAVA: Václav Kadrnka is moving into postproduction with the Czech/Slovak coproduction Saving One Who Was Dead / Správa o záchrane mŕtveho. The film received a grant from Eurimages in its latest allocation of funding.

BRATISLAVA: The sales company Pluto Film has picked up the feature debut of Slovak filmmaker Martina Saková, Summer Rebels / Letní rebeli. The Slovak/German coproduction for children had been selected for the main competitions of several world festivals before the coronavirus crisis started.

BRATISLAVA: Patrik Pašš is developing a documentary series under the working title 100 Days That Changed the World / 100 dní, ktoré zmenili svet through his company TRIGON PRODUCTION. The project will reflect the current, extremely challenging social situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting not only Slovakia but the whole world.

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia will reopen cinemas and theatres on 20 May 2020, as COVID-19 restrictions are being significantly relaxed due to the continuing favourable data on the epidemic.