The new edition of Feature Launch is already imminent, and the MIDPOINT Institute's leading feature-length film training programme has invited nine projects by debuting or sophomore filmmakers and three script-consultant trainees to take part this year.

The teams, consisting of writers, directors and producers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden, are participating in the development platform, which this time starts in March and will run until January 2023. They will be joined by three script-consultant trainees from Croatia, France and Hungary.

Soňa Morgenthalová, programme coordinator of Feature Launch, mentioned: “This year, I am particularly proud of the Feature Launch project selection. It shows the generational shift from rather regional themes, often dealing with post-soviet trauma, towards more global and contemporary issues, such as gender and sexuality. Their characters are yearning to find their place in the sun within a society that is more connected than ever, yet they are constantly grappling with the feelings of loneliness and anxiety that are so symptomatic of this pandemic era. The filmmakers of the Feature Launch 2022 generation are true Millennials, in the best sense of the term – they don't focus on the wrongs of the past, but rather the wrongs of the present.”

The programme will start with two consecutive events: a preparatory seminar for the script-consultant trainees, which is already running from 10-11 March in Prague, while all of the participants will join the first workshop from 11-17 March in Prague as well. The second workshop will be held online in early May, and it is expected that the selected projects will be presented after their third workshop in early July at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, within its Eastern Promises Industry Days, as part of the Works in Development – Feature Launch event. After this presentation, the main financial KVIFF & MIDPOINT Development Award of €10,000 will be handed out. Finally, the producers of the selected projects will form part of the special Feature Launch Spotlight event, which will be co-organised with When East Meets West in January 2023 in Trieste.

Here is the complete list of MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2022 projects:

A Flower Is Not a Flower (Romania)
Writer/director: Cristian Pascariu
Producer: Adriana Racasan

ALL MY FRIENDS SOON WILL BE DEAD (Latvia)
Writer/director: Armands Začs
Producer: Alise Ģelze

Dolphin (Poland)
Writer/director: Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska
Producer: Magdalena Sztorc

The First Week of August (Croatia)
Writer/director: Filip Mojzeš
Producer: Matej Merlić

My Best Friend's Baby (Sweden/Croatia)
Writer/director: Sophie Vuković
Producer: Eliza Jones

My Name Is Lily (Cyprus)
Writer/director: Yianna Americanou
Writer/producer: Christina Georgiou
Producer: Stelana Kliris

Side by Side (Czech Republic)
Writer/director: Kilián Vrátník
Co-writer: Natalie Golovchenko
Producer: Noemi Krausová

Twentyseven (Slovakia)
Writer/director: Gregor Valentovič
Producer: Zora Jaurová

You Better BE (Bulgaria)
Writer/director: Jonathan Heidelberger
Writer/director/producer: Magdelena Ilieva
Writer/producer: Drago Bago

Script-consultant trainees

Alizee Musson (France)
András Soós (Hungary)
Sonja Tarokić (Croatia)