05/07/2023 - I'm Not Everything I Want To Be by Klára Tasovská has received the Post-production Development Award, while Tasty by Eglė Vertelytė snagged the TRT Award

The team behind I’m Not Everything I Want To Be with their Post-production Development Award

Every year, the KVIFF Eastern Promises industry platform has the clear objective of bridging the gap between talented filmmakers and potential partners, festivals and audiences. The strand presented a diverse range of 27 film projects across its three well-established programmes: Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, and First Cut+. These projects were competing for awards amounting to a total value of €115,000.

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Hugo Rosák, head of the KVIFF Film Industry Office, commented: “Just like every year, we’ve tried to curate a nice mix of projects from around the regions, a solid mix of documentary and fiction films, and we now hope that [the teams] will be able to find new partners to complete their films and start on the festival circuit.”

The Works in Progress section unites fiction and documentary films, in recognition of the equal artistic value they possess despite their inherent differences. This year's showcase featured a collection of 11 fiction and documentary projects from various countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, as well as the Middle East and North Africa.

The jury (composed of Esra Demirkiran, festival coordinator of TRT Cinema; Petr Tichý, CEO and chairman of the board of directors at Barrandov Studio; Oscar Alonso, festival manager at Latido Films; film editor Nadia Ben Rachid; and producer Agustina Chiarino from Bocacha Films) deliberated and subsequently selected the documentary feature I'm Not Everything I Want To Be [+see also:
film review
film profile]. Directed and co-written by Klára Tasovská, and produced by Tasovská and Lukáš Kokeš, the film stood out as the deserving recipient of the Works in Progress Post-production Development Award, which includes post-production services from UPP and Soundsquare. The jury found “this project about personal freedom exciting, since all of the story elements from the past resonate today and can definitely inspire everyone”.

The winner of the other gong in this section, the Works in Progress TRT Award, which offers a cash prize of €5,000, was Tasty, the sophomore feature by Lithuanian writer-director Eglė Vertelytė, produced by Lukas Trimonis. According to the jury statement, it was deserving of the trophy “for conveying in a culinary comedy a critical approach to today’s world, which praises the exaggerated packaging in daily life and social media, and for presenting true friendship as the most delicious dish”.

As the recipient of the Works in Progress Karlovy Vary IFF Award, which is also accompanied by a €5,000 cash prize offered by Barrandov Studio, the jury picked Bikechess, directed by Assel Aushakimova, and produced by Antoine Simkine, Almagul Tleukhanova and Christian Fredrik Martin, as the project “points out through comedic eyes the absurd lengths to which the state can go to hide deeper issues; the jury truly appreciates the director’s fresh look at the ethics of journalism”.

Here is the list of KVIFF Eastern Promises Works in Progress award winners:

Works in Progress Post-production Development Award
I’m Not Everything I Want To Be [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Klára Tasovská (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Austria)
Producers: Klára Tasovská (Somatic Films), Lukáš Kokeš (nutprodukcia), Mischief Films

Works in Progress TRT Award
Tasty - Eglė Vertelytė (Lithuania)
Producer: Lukas Trimonis (iN SCRiPT)

Works in Progress Karlovy Vary IFF Award
Bikechess - Assel Aushakimova (Kazakhstan/France/Norway)
Producers: Antoine Simkine (Les Films d’Antoine), Almagul Tleukhanova (Alma Pictures), Christian Fredrik Martin (Maipo Film)