The 39th edition of the Finále Plzeň Film Festival (25-30 September) will present its annual survey of Czech cinema, documentary, television and web productions. Its four Golden Kingfisher competitions comprise 43 works: nine fiction or animated features, nine documentaries, 12 television and online projects, and 13 student shorts. The wider programme encompasses more than 100 screenings, including around 20 premieres and previews.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Evženie Brabcová’s feature debut, Backwoods, a family drama starring Klára Issová as a woman trying to hold her clan together as catastrophe approaches. The film will also compete in the feature section. The closing film is Wirbel, the feature debut by Tomáš Hubáček. Several contenders arrive following premieres at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, including Šimon Holý’s Chica Checa, Ivan Ostrochovský’s Only Beautiful Things to Look At and Martina Buchelová’s Lover, Not a Fighter. Slovenian-born, Czech-based filmmaker Olmo Omerzu returns with Ungrateful Beings, ten years after winning the Golden Kingfisher for Family Film. The competition also features Ondřej Hudeček’s crime-comedy Little Thief, Jitka Rudolfová’s Dancing with the Bear, Edmund Jansons’ Annecy-premiered children’s animation Born in the Jungle and Tomasz Mielnik’s absurdist historical comedy Gregorius, the Chosen One.

The documentary competition ranges from longitudinal observation and family biography to digital labour, contemporary art and political pressure. Helena Třeštíková will present Bára – Diary of a Rockstar, her long-term portrait of Czech singer Bára Basiková, while Ester Geislerová’s A Pint of Ink reconstructs memories of the director’s father, and Martin Trabalík’s What About Petey? follows a widower caring for his autistic son. The Czech Oscar submission If Pigeons Turned to Gold, directed by Pepa Lubojacki, will compete alongside Martin Kollar’s Chronicle, Jan Strejcovský’s Is It Worth It?!, Tomáš Elšík’s Resilience, David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin’s Oscar-nominated Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and Barbora Chalupová’s OnlyFans documentary Virtual Girlfriends.

The Czech Tracks section will showcase international productions involving Czech talent, including the Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe winner Fruit Gathering by Aung Phyoe and Slovakia’s Oscar submission, Flood by Martin Gonda. Polish cinema takes centre stage in ZOOM, whose selection includes the Vietnamese-set documentary Child of Dust by Weronika Mliczewska, the coming-of-age drama Wet Monday by Justyna Mytnik and the family flick Pixie. The New Beginning by Krzysztof Komander.

Poland also features in the Industry Programme (22-25 September) through a co-production panel with Marta Gmosińska, of Lava Films; Iza Igel, of Harine Films; and Agnieszka Kurzydło, of MD4. The Czech Film Springboard will introduce Czech projects to European festival programmers, sales agents, funds, training platforms and producers. Further sessions will address Czech audiovisual funding, queer representation, Generation Z audiences and impact campaigns, while the Czech Leonarda initiative will award screenplay-development grants to female creators working across film, television, animation and new media.

The full line-up is available to peruse here.