PRAGUE: Czech production company i/o post is developing its third coproduction with Iranian partners. Drama The One of the Whale is the debut feature by Iranian filmmaker Kaveh Daneshmand, who was very recently awarded by Iranian film critics for his short film Occasional Showers.

PRAGUE: Czech State Cinematography Fund gave development grants totalling 285,297 EUR / 710,000 CZK to 15 projects.

PRAGUE: The Czech State Cinematography Fund will allot 738,342 EUR / 19,950,000 CZK to nine minority coproductions. Romania, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Russia, Croatia and France are among coproduction partners.

PRAGUE: Prague’s city council approved a new film fund called Prague in Film. The annual budget allocated to the fund amounts to 370,096 EUR/10 m CZK.

PRAGUE: Musicians / Muzikanti directed by Slovak director Dušan Rapoš, the author of the cult musical of the 80’s The Fountain for Zuzana, wraps shooting at Těšínské Slezko, on the Czech-Polish-Slovak border, on 9 September 2016.

PRAGUE: Bollywood romantic road movie The Ring, starring Shah Rukh Khan, is currently shooting in Prague and set to spend almost 2 m EUR there. The film directed by Imtiaz Ali is produced by the prominent Bollywood production and distribution company Red Chillies Entertainment. Czech company Punk Film is providing services.

PRAGUE: British/Czech/French coproduction Anthropoid by Sean Ellis, starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan, had 2,515,408 EUR gross in the US since opening on 12 August 2016. The WWII drama about the assassination of Nazi General Reinhard Heydrich will open in the Czech Republic on 28 September 2016, a national holiday in the country.

PRAGUE: A massive fire broke out at Prague Barrandov Studio on the night of 26 August 2016, causing damage estimated at approximately 3.7 m EUR. The set of Knightfall, the US television drama series which started shooting for the History Channel in July 2016, burnt down.

PRAGUE: New Czech production company Cinema Belongs To Us, founded by filmmaker Asmara Beraki, is currently in production with the low budget film The Absence of Closeness. This psychological drama is the debut feature by Josef Tuka, who studied at FAMU under the tutelage of Věra Chytilová.

PRAGUE: The Bohemian region of Usti nad Labem is setting up a film office that will attract filmmakers to the area. Regional authorities also want to encourage the development of film tourism.