Warsaw International Film Festival

With the so many festivals being cancelled or being forced to take place online, Warsaw International Film Festival is one of the biggest events that will actually happen this fall – in Warsaw and with audience in cinemas. Traditionally, Czech films are plentifully present in the programme of Warsaw IFF.

Three Czech films and co-productions will be introduced in the International Competition. The Man with Hare Ears, directed by Martin Šulík, produced by Rudolf Biermann of IN Film Praha, will celebrate the international premiere along with Droneman, a new film by the Czech directing legend Petr Zelenka.

Romanian director Bogdan George Apetri returns to Warsaw after 10 years with his brand-new film Unidentified. A crime-drama, which will celebrate its world premiere also in International Competition, is Romanian-Czech-Latvian co-production, represented by Cineart TV Prague on the Czech side.

Shadow Country, directed by established Czech auteur Bohdan Sláma, produced by Martin Růžička and Jindřich Motýl of LUMINAR FILM, will be presented in Special Screenings. However, the international premiere of the film will take place at the BFI London Film Festival, which starts online just two days before Warsaw.

This most “starry” section of the festival will also give floor to two other Czech films: the biopic Havel, directed by Slávek Horák, produced by director’s own TVORBA films, and also The Banger, Czech-Slovak music comedy directed and produced by Ondřej Trojan.

Last but not least, Slovak-Czech Scumbag created by directing-producing duo Mariana Čengel Solčanská and Rudolf Biermann will be presented in Competition 1-2.

Odesa International Film Festival

World-famous director Agnieszka Holland will introduce her majority Czech drama Charlatan to the audience of Bergen IFF, Riga IFF and Odesa IFF (the last event will take place online). The film is a Czech-Irish-Polish-Slovak co-production with Šárka Cimbalová of Marlene Film Production being the main producer. Charlatan premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year, it was then selected for the line-up of cancelled Telluride FF and just a few days ago, the film was awarded the prize for best director at European Film Festival in Palić, Serbia.

The biggest Ukrainian festival, Odesa IFF, will kick off on Friday also with Ivan Ostrochovský’s Slovak-Romanian-Czech-Irish Servants, co-produced by Negativ on the Czech side – the black and white feature was selected for International Competition. I Want You If You Dare, directed by Dagmar Smržová and produced by Miloš Lochman of moloko film, will compete in Odesa’s European Documentary Competition.

Zurich Film Festival

TV project Rats by Viktor Tauš was selected for the Series competition of the upcoming Zurich Film Festival along with the “Czech box-office hit” documentary Caught in the Net which will also be introduced to the Zurich audience in the Border Lines section. With their film, the directing duo Barbora Chalupová and Vít Klusák will then head to the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema.

San Sebastian International Film Festival & Busan International Film Festival

In the Dusk, directed by celebrated author Sharunas Bartas, was part of this year’s selection of cancelled Cannes Film Festival, and it goes on to screen at other major festivals. Lithuanian-French-Czech-Serbian-Portuguese-Latvian drama, co-produced by Sirena Film on the Czech side, was selected to compete at ongoing San Sebastian IFF and it will also be screened at the Busan IFF in the World Cinema section as Asian premiere.