The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) is expanding its Industry Days program by a day, refocusing and adding some new offerings this year, including a series incubator.
Running Sunday, July 6-Wednesday, July 9, the Eastern Promises industry section and market will have “a sharpened focus on Central European co-production opportunities in an updated showcase format.” The extended program also broadens its scope with new presentations and events dedicated to the small screen and series development.
In one significant change, the fest is launching a new format dedicated to showcasing film projects in the making. As a result, the previous Works in Progress pitches will be replaced by a KVIFF Central Stage showcase, thanks to a cooperation with the national film institutes of eight Central European countries, namely Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. The showcase, taking place on July 8, will feature 13 fiction films, to be unveiled later, by established filmmakers from these countries that are in late stages of development, in production or post-production. “Instead of traditional pitches, the projects will be introduced through interactive talks, focusing on the filmmakers and co-production landscape in each of the participating countries,” KVIFF.
“We chose this new format because it addresses a real gap in the Central European film landscape,” explained Hugo Rosák, the head of the KVIFF Industry Office. “There is significant support for emerging filmmakers across Eastern Europe, but mid-career filmmakers often lack the necessary spotlight and resources to secure financing, even though their projects are equally compelling.”
Participating projects will be eligible for post-production benefits, thanks to a generous partnership with studios UPP and Soundsquare, which will also offer discounts to productions qualifying for the Czech Audiovisual Fund’s 35 percent incentive for digital production. “The most promising films in development, selected by an international jury, will also be eligible” for the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award.
Also, via a partnership with broadcaster and entertainment giant Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME), the festival will introduce a Pop-Up Series Incubator featuring five original European series. “The aim is to establish Karlovy Vary as a hub for co-productions and creative collaborations across diverse narrative forms,” organizers said. “This collaboration aims at transforming Karlovy Vary into a comprehensive hub for television and streaming series development.”
In line with this new “Small Screen, Big Ambitions” push, KVIFF will feature showcases, panels, workshops, and talks by small-screen players and experts on July 8 and July 9.
“Television and streaming production in our region is undergoing a massive transformation – not only in content quality but also in creative ambitions. Partnering with KVIFF is a natural step for us,” said Daniel Grunt, CEO of CME’s Czech unit Nova Group. “We believe that the connection between the film and television worlds can bring crucial momentum to the entire Central and Eastern European region.”
The Pop Up Series Incubator, presented and organized by Tatino Films, co-financed by the European Union and supported and hosted by La Région Grand Est, the city of Reims, and KVIFF, the eight-month-long program will in Karlovy Vary get a pitching session where the creative teams will present their series concepts to industry professionals and decision makers, followed by curated match-making sessions with professionals that look to finance or produce series.
“Most of the upcoming shows of streamers are adaptations of existing IPs – literary, audiovisual works or even true stories. The reason for that is simple: building an audience or generating attention from scratch is seen as way too risky and unlikely considering the financial implications of drama series production,” said Matthieu Darras, CEO of Tatino Films. “This ‘IP Adaptation Game’ is mostly reserved to big players, but Pop Up Series wants to create opportunities for audiovisual talents that are not necessarily in the orbit of international behemoths, such as Banijay, Fremantle, or Mediawan, to adapt their own IPs into compelling series projects.”
The five selected series projects that will be showcased in Karlovy Vary are Angelmaker (Romania), based on a true story of The Angel Makers of Nagyrév, a group of people in Hungary who were suspected of poisoning, Erotic Lives of the Superheroes (France), based on Italian novel La Vita Erotica Dei Superuomini by Marco Mancassola, The Night of the Beguines (France), based on French novel La Nuit des Béguines by Aline Kiner, The Three Burials of Irma (Greece), based on Greek novel Alfatride (O iatrodikastis) by Vassilis Vassilikos, and Therapies (Lithuania) vased on a play by Birutė Kapustinskaitė.
Returning this year is a KVIFF Eastern Promises staple, the Midpoint Institute’s Works in Development international script development program, which will showcase nine feature-length projects that are currently in development, as featured in more detail here, plus five projects, details for which are here, developed within Midpoint’s Focus Queer, a program supporting filmmakers exploring queer narratives.
Also returning, for its third edition, will be KVIFF Talents, a year-long program supporting talented Czech and Slovak filmmakers and their innovative projects. Its Creative Pool, focusing on identifying innovative ideas for audiovisual works of any genre or format — from short films and series to podcasts or game concepts, this year features as selected projects Mould, an animated series for children and adults, anime series Lost Boys, and live-action musical series Remake. The Feature Pool, dedicated to supporting the development of original auteur-driven feature-length fiction films, this year features Nameless, a feature debut combining live-action and stop-motion animation, thriller feature Spirit Moose, and Burnout, a feature debut based on a novel by Petr Šesták.
“We believe that we have a unique opportunity to strengthen our position as the leading industry event dedicated to Central Europe, a region that also includes creative powerhouses like Poland, Germany or Austria, and deserves focused international attention,” said Kryštof Mucha, the executive director of KVIFF. “Our aim is to serve as a central hub for producers, filmmakers, broadcasters, and platforms from Central Europe, alongside global industry professionals who wish to engage closely with this vibrant region. Recognizing the growing crossover of storytelling across various mediums, our expanded Industry Days now have the capacity and vision to fully embrace this evolution.”