Founded in 1990, Cinepoint began as a Prague-based production company specializing in television-format ethnographic travel documentaries from around the world. But the company underwent a transformation with the arrival of Alice Tabery in 2011.

Tabery, a graduate of Prague’s Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), assumed both ownership and leadership of Cinepoint on joining the company. Her international education—spanning La Fémis in Paris, the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany, and the CCC Film School in Mexico City—exposed her to a range of cinematic traditions and approaches. This diverse background informing her perspective has been instrumental in shaping Cinepoint’s trajectory.

Before fully establishing her production work at Cinepoint, Tabery produced New Life of a Family Album (2012) by Slovak filmmaker Adam Oľha during her tenure at Evolution Films, which laid the groundwork for her later endeavors. The film premiered at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and won the Audience Award at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. Under Tabery’s guidance, Cinepoint embraced a vision that merged personal storytelling with broader cultural, social, and political themes. Central to this approach was an emphasis on cinema’s potential to illuminate individual experiences while engaging with universal issues.

One of the company’s early milestones during this period was Eva Nová (2015), the fiction feature debut of Slovak documentary filmmaker Marko Škop. Tabery coproduced the film, which follows a once-famous actress striving to rebuild her relationship with the son she abandoned decades earlier. Emerging from rehab and seeking redemption, the protagonist faces rejection and confronts the weight of her past. The film premiered at the Toronto IFF, where it won the FIPRESCI Discovery Award, and subsequently traveled the international festival circuit, garnering further laurels, including being submitted as the Slovak candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The next chapter of Tabery’s collaboration with Škop is his latest project, Anna, which concludes a thematic trilogy on parent-child relationships that began with Eva Nová and continued with Let There Be Light (2019). Anna delves into the psychological wounds inflicted by dysfunctional family dynamics and examines their broader societal implications. The story follows the eponymous young doctor as she navigates a fraught relationship with her mother while contending with exploitative dynamics in her professional life. Principal photography for Anna wrapped in autumn 2024, with the film slated for a 2025 premiere.

Documentary core

Cinepoint has primarily focused on auteur documentaries, which constitute the core of its production slate. Tabery, a member of the European Documentary Network, has spearheaded the production of several projects, including the visually poetic Traces of a Landscape (2020), directed by Petr Záruba. The film, which premiered at Visions du Réel, explores the life and art of Jan Jedlička, a painter, photographer, and experimental filmmaker who transformed personal loss into creative renewal. Traces was acquired for television distribution in Switzerland and Croatia.

The company also produced the documentary debut of rising Slovak filmmaker Mária Pinčíková, On Your Marks! (2021), which premiered at Doclisboa. A heartfelt exploration of the contemporary Sokol movement—a Czech and Slovak tradition emphasizing physical and spiritual development as pillars of democratic values—Pinčíková’s work employs observational filmmaking and dynamic storytelling. It follows participants from chaotic rehearsals to their culmination in mass gymnastics events, blending humor, humanity, and historical insight.

Another significant addition to Cinepoint’s portfolio is Jan Šikl’s Reconstruction of Occupation (2021). Utilizing restored archival footage, Šikl’s film revisits the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, offering both personal and collective reflections on the trauma of that era. Premiering at the Karlovy Vary IFF, the documentary enjoyed a successful run at Trieste IFF, Krakow IFF, Watch Docs FF, Beldocs, DokuBaku, and Imagineindia FF, where it won the Best Documentary Award. The film was later acquired by German broadcaster ZDF.

Among Cinepoint’s commercial highlights is Adam Ondra: Pushing the Limits (2022), a documentary about the Czech rock climber Adam Ondra. Directed by Jan Šimánek and Petr Záruba, the film chronicles the emotional and physical demands of Ondra’s elite climbing career, culminating in his participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Pushing the Limits has screened at over 40 film festivals worldwide and continues to enjoy steady viewership on VOD platforms.

Cinepoint’s recent productions include also documentary portraits The Actress (2024), a portrait of iconic Czech actress Iva Janžurová, directed by her daughter Theodora Remundová, blends observational footage with staged reenactments to examine Janžurová’s career, personal life, and enduring humanity. The film was an audience hit when it premiered at the Karlovy Vary IFF.

Expanding horizons

Cinepoint expanded its creative scope with the arrival of Kristina Husová, a junior producer specializing in animation, in 2019. Husová has introduced a new dimension to the company’s portfolio, enhancing its established documentary strengths with innovative animated projects and a focus on nurturing emerging talent.

One of Husová’s early successes was Sisters (2021), an animated short by Andrea Szelesová that delves into the emotional intricacies of sisterhood. Praised for its visual creativity and narrative depth, the film resonated widely, screening at over 60 international festivals, including Annecy, Ottawa, and Clermont-Ferrand, and garnering multiple awards. Building on this success, Husová is currently producing Szelesová’s follow-up project, Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe! This 2D animated film tells the story of a lonely boy from a mythological cloud world, bullied for his radiant, sunlike head. In a cruel game he falls to Earth, but before returning home, he discovers friendship and acceptance through an unlikely bond with a blind boy. The project received support from both the Czech Film Fund and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund.

Another addition to Cinepoint’s animation slate is the stop-motion puppet short film Humanity (2024), by Tereza Kovandová, coproduced with FAMU and DIVIZE animace. This darkly humorous work explores the petty irritations of human interaction, portraying exaggeratedly grim outcomes for minor annoyances. Humanity has already garnered acclaim, winning the Marilyn Marsh Saint-Veltri Award for Best Student Animation Short at the Denver Film Festival.

Diverse perspectives

In addition to Marko Škop’s forthcoming drama Anna, Tabery is currently preparing Playtopia, a hybrid documentary by Bára Jíchová Tyson, slated for shooting in summer 2025. The Czech-Romanian coproduction merges real and whimsical elements, exploring themes of power, money, hierarchy, and inequality through the imaginative lens of eight children from diverse backgrounds. Blending live-action collages, debates, real-life footage, and miniature objects, the film interrogates whether contemporary societal structures align with the needs and futures of younger generations. Designed as a pan-European collaboration, Playtopia is in the final stages of securing additional coproducers, with plans for a festival premiere followed by a VOD release. In addition to Czech Film Fund and Romanian Film Centre support, the project has been supported by Creative Europe MEDIA.

Now in postproduction is Kaprálová, directed by Petr Záruba, a documentary examining the life and legacy of Czech composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová. The film, a Czech-French coproduction, juxtaposes archival material and reflections from contemporary musicians to explore the challenges faced by women in conducting—a male-dominated field—while celebrating Kaprálová’s contributions to classical music until her untimely death in 1940. The release, scheduled for 2025, will be accompanied by live performances of Kaprálová’s compositions, creating a multidimensional tribute to her artistry.

As a minority coproducer, Tabery also recently worked on the French-Czech-Kyrgyz coproduction Atirkül in the Land of the Real Men, by Janyl Jusupjan (IDFA 2023). This story from Central Asia, where men have for centuries passed the time playing the game of buzkashi and riding the vast lands on horseback, follows Until Atirkül, a delicate Muslim businesswoman who is passionate about horses, as she decides to enter the rough world of tough men.

Currently, Tabery is involved in the Spanish documentary Ashes, directed by Oier Plaza Gartzía. The film traces the journey of Antón Gandarias, who uncovers the story of his uncle, Ánjel Lekuona, a victim of Nazi persecution whose ashes were secretly preserved by Czech crematorium workers during World War II. The poignant narrative culminates in the discovery of Ánjel’s remains in Czech soil more than 80 years after his death. The documentary, a coproduction with Filmak, Cinepoint, Babel Doc, Bask Television, Spanish Television, Czech Television, and ARTE, is set for a 2025 release. It will include both theatrical and television versions.

And, as if all this were not enough, Tabery continues her commitment to fostering emerging talent, coproducing City of Dreams, the debut feature by Slovak filmmakers Matúš Chovanec and Adam Šoltés. The duo’s observational documentary offers an intimate portrait of one of Slovakia’s largest and most impoverished Romani settlements. Capturing moments of resilience, familial bonds, activism, and the systemic neglect faced by the community, City of Dreams is an exploration of life in the midst of organized chaos. It is expected to premiere in 2026.

Looking ahead, Tabery plans to expand into documentary and fiction episodic production, diversifying Cinepoint’s portfolio while maintaining its roots in auteur-driven cinema.