Czech producer Marek Novák of Prague-based company Xova Film appears among 20 producers from 20 different countries who have been selected for the Producers on the Move 2021 programme.

Marek Novák studied law and later film production at Prague’s FAMU. In 2014, he co-founded production company Xova Film along with director Michal Varga. Novák produced Varga’s documentary feature-length debut Circus Rwanda about a circus show put together by Czech and Rwandese artists focusing on clash of different cultures (KVIFF 2018, Warsaw IFF 2018). Then he co-worked with Petr Šprincl on an experimental docu-fiction road movie about life, death and dental prosthetics Vienna Calling (Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018) which was followed by Šprincl’s mockument Moravia, O Fair Land III about a clash of folklore, blackmetal and zombies in the ancient region of South Moravia. Novák also co-produced two majority Romanian films: Cristina Grosan’s short Along Came a Prince (2020) and feature Heads and Tails by Nicolae Constantin Tănase.

At the moment, Novák develops several projects including awaited Michal Hogenauer’s second feature drama The Last One Turns Off the Lights (Les Arcs Co-production Village 2021), psychological drama Ordinary Failures by Cristina Grosan (When East Meets West 2020) or social drama set on the brink of ecological apocalypse Eternal Peace, debut feature by Vojtěch Strakatý. In 2019, Novák also took part in our Czech Film Springboard development programme with the last two projects mentioned above. In addition, Novák also produces another debut, Jan Březina’s psychological drama Erhart (currently in postproduction) which was presented during the Czech Works in Progress 2020 held within the 27th Prague International Film Festival – Febiofest.

Networking programme Producers on the Move is an annual event organized by the European Film Promotion during Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, the digital edition of the initiative will be held online independently of the festival which has been postponed to July.

Twenty selected young European producers have an opportunity to establish new contacts and present their current projects to each other. EFP selects the participants from nominations received from its member organizations, which is in the case of the Czech Republic Czech Film Center, the division of the Czech Film Fund.

In the 20 years long history of the Producers on the Move programme, sixteen Czech producers have participated, among them Pavel Strnad (Negativ), Karla Stojáková (Axman Production), Vratislav Šlajer (Bionaut), Jiří Konečný (endorfilm), and Martin Vandas (MAUR film), or more recently Mikuláš Novotný (Background Films) in 2020, Radovan Síbrt (PINK) in 2018, or Pavla Janoušková Kubečková (nutprodukce) in 2017, or Jan Macola (Mimesis Film) in 2015.