04/03/2025 - The Czech producer talks about the craft of filmmaking, work-life balance, audience hunting and his upcoming projects

Michal Sikora runs the Prague-based production company Lonely Production, which focuses on diverse, human-driven stories with an international reach. With experience in both narrative and documentary films, Michal has taken on an eclectic portfolio of projects that have enjoyed success both domestically and internationally, including participation in festivals such as Busan, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Cinequest, Shanghai, and more. An interview with him, now selected for the 2025 Emerging Producers programme (read his EP profile here).

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Why do you produce documentaries? Do you see documentary cinema as an instrument of social and political change?
Michal Sikora: I don’t see a big difference between fiction and documentary – what matters most to me is the story, the topic, and the characters. If a film resonates with me on a personal level, I am eager to join the project and do everything I can to help it reach its full potential. I do believe that documentary cinema can be a powerful instrument of social and political change, but a film alone is not enough. For real impact, it needs to be accompanied by a well-thought-out impact campaign and supported by active individuals who are committed to carrying its message forward. It requires a complex and deeply engaged approach to truly make a difference.

How do you achieve and maintain work-life balance and foster overall well-being?
To be honest, I don’t think I achieve work-life balance – I live on the edge. My personal life changed drastically when I lost my dear wife last year, leaving me as a single father to my beautiful two-year-old son. That experience, combined with the inherent unpredictability of the film industry, often fills me with doubts and uncertainty. Filmmaking was once my escape during the darkest moments, but as I adjust to my new normal, it sometimes feels like a trap. Once you commit to a project, there’s no real ending – only milestones. When the script is done, you move to financing. Once you secure funding, production begins, then post-production, then the world premiere, then distribution. Even when other partners, like sales agents or distributors, take over, there’s always something left to do. And in between those milestones, life (and other films) happen. The line between work and personal life is incredibly thin – sometimes, it disappears altogether. I don’t have a perfect solution, but I try to stay present in both worlds, even if the balance constantly shifts.

Where do you find audiences for your films?
Every film requires a different approach when it comes to finding its audience. Some films are meant for a broad audience, while others are tailored to niche groups. Factors such as the film’s theme, country of origin, primary language, the overall DNA of the film, the lead character(s), or even the director’s name all play a role in determining the right audience. A great example is our film Child of Dust [+see also:
trailer
film profile], world premiering in the main competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival this year. The story spans three continents, following a man born after the Vietnam War – an Amerasian child of a US soldier and a Vietnamese woman – who, at 50 years old, discovers that his father is still alive in the US and embarks on a heartbreaking journey to meet him. Naturally, we initially looked toward audiences in the US and Vietnam. However, we quickly realized that distribution in Vietnam is nearly impossible due to censorship, while the US presents different challenges. Interestingly, the film has gained significant attention in Europe, where we’ve received numerous festival invitations – perhaps due to the fact that the director and main producer Weronika Mliczewska is Polish, with Czech and Swedish co-producers on board. To reach the widest possible audience, we work closely with our sales agent, Rise and Shine. Together, we’ve defined target groups, identified the most suitable festivals, and developed a strategic sales plan for TV, VOD, and OTT platforms. We believe this strategy is starting to bear fruit, and our goal is for Child of Dust to be seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers. Our ultimate dream? To surpass one million viewers across all distribution channels.

What projects do you have underway (including fiction films and other projects)?
This year, my partners and I are set to release six films: three feature fiction films (Choirmaster, Ungrateful Beings, Pixie), two documentaries (Child of Dust, Jiří Kylián: Sehnsucht), and one short film (The First Patrol). Beyond these, we have several projects in various stages of production.

One of them is Always Far Away, the second feature documentary by director Roman Ďuriš, with whom we premiered Fakir last year—a film that received highly positive critical acclaim and screened at several important festivals. Always Far Away follows Vojta, a boy born into a nomadic circus family, traveling from town to town every week. While his innocent curiosity draws him toward the outside world, he struggles with the daily routine and responsibilities expected of him as the next in line to carry on the family tradition. The film explores Vojta’s evolving identity as he matures into a young man, artist, and circus performer, questioning how much of our fate is shaped by our environment and how much we can truly choose for ourselves.

Later this year, we also plan to begin shooting the fiction feature film Malice, a Taiwan-Malaysia-Indonesia-Czech co-production directed by Lungyin Lim. The story follows three men who board the last harpoon boat in search of an extinct swordfish, each haunted by violent shadows of their past. Captain Fu, whose elder son died in an accident while chasing the elusive fish, is drawn back into the hunt when a foreign boy, Ruan, claims that the creature still exists. Unable to resist the temptation, Fu embarks on a fateful journey with his remaining son, Yee, and Ruan, unaware of the dark consequences that await them.

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EMERGING PRODUCERS is a leading promotional and educational project, which brings together talented European documentary film producers. The programme is organised and curated by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Deadline for applications to the EMERGING PRODUCERS 2026 edition is 31 March 2025.