The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s (KVIFF) Industry Days (5-8 July) are strengthening their focus on Central and Eastern European collaboration with the latest edition of KVIFF Promises, the festival’s umbrella platform for projects in the making. This year, the programme will present 38 projects across five strands, including the return of KVIFF Central Stage and the launch of Book-to-Screen at KVIFF, a new showcase dedicated to literary IPs with strong adaptation potential, as well as the Works in Development – Feature Launch and the Works in Development – Focus Queer strands.

The second edition of KVIFF Central Stage will feature 11 upcoming fiction films by established filmmakers from the region. Created by the KVIFF Film Industry Office in cooperation with national film institutes and promotional agencies across Central Europe, the initiative focuses on projects in late-stage development, production or post-production.

“This format addresses a notable gap in the Central European film landscape, where mid-career filmmakers typically have fewer opportunities for visibility and financing than emerging ones. Thanks to cooperation with film institutes across the region, including Swiss Films as a new partner this year, we present experienced filmmakers working on anticipated projects already resonating with audiences,” says Hugo Rosák, head of Industry Programs.

The selected projects underline the showcase’s role as a meeting point for filmmakers with festival credentials and projects seeking international partners. Nicolas Steiner will present The Flying Mountain, a metaphysical drama of grief, brotherhood and the limits of rational understanding, while Antonio Lukich brings Screaming Girl, an absurdist story of a Ukrainian refugee in Dublin whose acting ambitions are derailed by a spear magically attached to her body. Marysia Nikitiuk’s Noah turns a frontline initiation story into a hyper-naturalistic tragedy of survival and moral endurance. The line-up also includes Tomáš Hodan’s The Stones Are Rolling to Prague, revisiting the preparations for the Rolling Stones’ 1990 concert in the city, and Tomáš Pavlíček’s A Few Branches Off, a comedy rooted in Czech cottage culture. Cristina Groșan will present Lesdenzero, a class-conscious mob drama about precarious ambition and elite dependency, while Olga Chajdas brings Tribe, a darkly comic Balkan road movie about female rage, grief and improvised solidarity. Further projects include Sebastian Fritzsch’s visually driven Trainrider, Goran Vojnović’s adaptation Yugoslavia, My Fatherland, Michal Blaško’s coming-of-age drama Cowgirl and Sebastian Brauneis’s 1960s Vienna-set boxing biopic Hansi.

A major addition to this year’s Industry Days is Book-to-Screen at KVIFF, an initiative designed to create a dedicated Central and Eastern European market for adaptation rights, and to strengthen links between the film and publishing sectors. The inaugural selection brings together eight literary works chosen for their adaptation potential, ranging from memoir and folk horror to dystopian satire, graphic fiction, children’s literature and historical drama. Patrik Banga’s The True Way Out offers a raw coming-of-age memoir rooted in 1990s Prague and Roma experience, while Zuzana Říhová’s Playing Wolf brings Central European folklore into the terrain of psychological thriller and elevated horror. Daniel Majling’s graphic novel The Zone stands out as a visually distinctive blend of absurdist fiction, dark humour and genre storytelling, and Iulian Ciocan’s Queen of Hearts turns a mysterious urban crater into a satirical allegory of corruption and post-communist moral decay. Further titles include Ieva Dumbrytė’s Aspic Bistro, a grotesque magical realist satire set in an oppressive kitchen world, and Aka Morchiladze’s Cupid at the Kremlin Wall, a Stalin-era historical detective story built around a dangerous train journey to the Kremlin. Adam Robiński’s The River Odyssey of Kora from Willow Meadow offers family-orientated ecological storytelling through the journey of a young beaver, while Sophia Andrukhovych’s Amadoca combines an intimate story of amnesia and identity with the historical traumas of 20th-century Eastern Europe and the war in Donbas.

The new showcase will also include an IP-focused producers’ think-tank and networking session. “Our long-term ambition with Book-to-Screen at KVIFF is to become a true Central-Eastern European IP market that helps spark dialogue between the film and publishing industries, and create a more transparent environment for adaptation rights in the region,” notes Rosák.

The projects selected are as follows:

KVIFF Central Stage

Cowgirl - Michal Blaško (Slovakia/Czech Republic/Hungary)
Production: Jakub Viktorín, Tomáš Hrubý (nutprodukcia, nutprodukce)

Hansi - Sebastian Brauneis (Austria)
Production: Ulrich Gehmacher (Orbrock Filmproduction GmbH)

Tribe - Olga Chajdas (Poland/Albania)
Production: Karolina Galuba (Furia Film)

Trainrider - Sebastian Fritzsch (Germany)
Production: Corinna C Poetter (Eyrie Entertainment GmbH), Daniel Ehrenberg (Orange Roughy Filmproduktion)

Lesdenzero - Cristina Groșan (Czech Republic/Switzerland/Hungary/Romania)
Production: Marek Novák (Xova Film)

The Stones Are Rolling to Prague - Tomáš Hodan (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Production: Jakub Kraus, Martin Palán (Bontonfilm), Tibor Búza

Screaming Girl - Antonio Lukich (Ukraine/Ireland)
Production: Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko (Fore Films), Jessie Fisk, Annie Barclay (Feline Films)

Noah - Marysia Nikitiuk (Ukraine/Croatia/Belgium)
Production: Igor Savychenko (Directory Films), Hrvoje Osvadić (Petnaesta Umjetnost), Sébastien Delloye (Entre Chien et Loup)

A Few Branches Off - Tomáš Pavlíček (Czech Republic)
Production: Eva Váchová, Pavel Vácha (Bratři)

The Flying Mountain - Nicolas Steiner (Switzerland/Ireland/Austria)
Production: Katrin Renz, Stefan Jäger, Nicolas Steiner (tellfilm GmbH), David Collins, Eamon Hughes, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck

Yugoslavia, My Fatherland - Goran Vojnović (Slovenia/North Macedonia/Serbia)
Production: Boštjan Ikovic, Miloš Ivanović (Arsmedia)

Works in Development – Feature Launch

They Bloom at Dawn - Angela Dimeska (North Macedonia)
Production: Ognen Antov (Dream Factory Macedonia)

The Embrace - Andra Hera (Romania)
Production: Ana Corbu (Redwood Productions)

Confirmation - Maciej Jankowski (Poland)
Production: Monika Matuszewska (Rozbrat Films)

Natura - Marios Mettis (Cyprus)
Production: Louis Patsias (The Coffee Films)

Smearhead - Marek Partyš (Czech Republic)
Production: Matěj Paclík (Breathless Films)

Northern Lights - Mara Tamkovich (Finland/Poland/Croatia)
Production: Merja Ritola (Greenlit Productions Oy)

Reminiscence - Anastasia Tykha (Ukraine)
Production: Darya Bassel (Moon Man)

Not All Houses Have a Yard - Isidora Veselinović (Serbia)
Production: Marija Stojanović (Sense Production)

My 19-Year-Old Granny - Victoria Zadorska (Ukraine)
Production: Olena Yershova (TatoFilm)

Works in Development – Focus Queer

Selamlik - Jerry Carlsson (Sweden/Denmark)
Production: Frida Mårtensson (Verket Produktion)

Nuusiku - Laudika yaNdangii Hamutenya (Namibia/France)
Production: Jérémie Palanque (Woooz Pic)

Skeeter - Dylan Mitro (Canada)
Production: Taylor Nodrick (Ghoul Nexus)

Unholy - Phaedra Vokali (Greece)
Production: Hermione Efstratiadou (Foss Productions)

Book-to-Screen

Amadoka - Sophia Andrukhovych (Ukraine)
Publisher: The Old Lion Publishing House

The True Way Out - Patrik Banga (Czech Republic)
Publisher: Host

Queen of Hearts - Iulian Ciocan (Moldova)
Publisher: Polirom

Aspic Bistro - Ieva Dumbrytė (Lithuania)
Publisher: Kitos knygos

The Zone - Daniel Majling (Slovakia)
Publisher: Brak

Cupid at the Kremlin Wall - Aka Morchiladze (Georgia)
Publisher: Sulakauri Publishing

Playing Wolf - Zuzana Říhová (Czech Republic)
Publisher: Argo

The River Odyssey of Kora from Willow Meadow - Adam Robiński (Poland)
Publisher: Widnokrąg