PRAGUE: Marek Najbrt, the author of Blanik Office, a series aired on the internet and a big succes in the Czech Republic, is currently in production with the Czech/Slovak coproduction The Magic Quill / Čertí brko, a fairy tale starring Judit Bárdos and Jan Cina.

PRAGUE: Filip Renč is currently shooting Desperate Women Do Desperate Things / Zoufalé ženy dělají zoufalé věcí, a comedy based on two books by Halina Pawlovská, one of the most popular Czech writers and TV personalities.

PRAGUE: Documentary director Martin Dušek and scriptwriter Ondřej Provazník are currently developing their highly aniticipated debut feature Old Timers, inspired by real events. This project produced by Jiří Konečný through endorfilm was introduced at Pitch & Feedback during the 52nd Karlovy Vary IFF (30 June – 8 July 2017).

PRAGUE: Czech State Cinematography Fund announced production grants for eleven documentaries with major Czech participation on 25 July 2017.  The total funding is 461,184 EUR / 12 m CZK. 

PRAGUE: Czech cinemas are experiencing their best results since 1993, with growth in attendance continuing in the first half of 2017. Attendance during the first six months of 2017 reached 7.5 million, which represents a seven percent increase compared to the same period last year. 

PRAGUE: Revenues for domestic film and TV production for members of the Audiovisual Producers´ Association (APA) reached a record high in 2016 of 921m CZK in turnover, which is the highest amount since 2002. The amount was only slightly more than the 852m total for 2015.

PRAGUE: Revenues from foreign film and television production surpassed 130 m EUR / 3.5 billion CZK in 2016 compared to 3.7 billion CZK in 2015 with big-budget foreign TV series as the main drivers of the local services industry. Total revenues from foreign productions dropped by 236m CZK / approximately 8.5m EUR.

KARLOVY VARY: Famous Czech musician and actor Ondřej Havelka introduced his long-awaited project Hastrman during the 52nd Karlovy Vary IFF (30 June – 8 July 2017). Described as a blend of drama, romance and fantasy, the project has finalised the first of the four stages of principal photography.

PRAGUE: Daniel Sykora and his team from Czech Technical University in Prague have developed a software that helps animators save time and reach more interesting results. StyLit is able to recognise the work and style of an artist and apply it to all other objects.