BRATISLAVA: The Bratislava International Film Festival has cancelled its 2019 edition, which was due in December, but it plans to develop into a modern and larger film event next year.

SLOVAKIA: The mystery/psychological thriller Faces / Chehre directed by Rumi Jaffery and starring Amitabh Bachchan will start shooting in the High Tatras in Slovakia on 10 December 2019. This is the first Indian film to be shot in Slovakia. The eight shooting days in Europe are divided between Slovakia and Poland.

BRATISLAVA: The main prize at CAMERA 2019, awarded by the Association of Slovak Cinematographers, went to Denisa Buranová for the feature film By a Sharp Knife directed by Teodor Kuhn, while Juraj Mravec received the award in the documentary category for Lost Home, that he also directed.

BRATISLAVA: FNE spoke with Zuzana Bieliková, head of the Slovak Film Commission, about foreign film productions coming to Slovakia and the increase in Slovak film incentives. Bieliková was appointed to her post when the Slovak Film Commission was launched on 1 June 2018. Slovakia introduced film incentives of 20 percent in 2015. The incentives are due to increase to 33 percent on 1 January 2020.

BRATISLAVA: Slovak director Marek Kuboš is in production with documentary +/-90, and is working on his debut feature The Secret / Tajomstvo. Both films are produced by Kuboš‘s own production company PSYCHÉ film, which produced his recent film The Last Self-Portrait, which was a successful return after several years of creative pause.

BRATISLAVA: The acclaimed Slovak documentary director Peter Kerekes is in postproduction with Censor / Cenzorka, a Slovak/Czech/Ukrainian coproduction, which is the first fiction film of the filmmaker known for his documentaries Cooking History and 66 Seasons.

BRATISLAVA: The Slovak/Czech/Macedonian historical drama Piargy / Fašiangy, which started first shooting in May 2016, is in postproduction. The film, based on a short story by Slovak writer František Švantner, is directed by Czech Ivo Trajkov. 

BRATISLAVA: The epic historical TV series Slavs / Slovania is a Slovak/Ukrainian coproduction between Wanda Hrycová´s Wandal Production and Andrey Yermak´s European partnership media group. The 12-part series will premiere in September 2020 on TV JOJ in Slovakia and 1+1 channel in the Ukraine.

BRATISLAVA: Acclaimed Slovak director Jaro Vojtek’s new documentary film Paradise on Earth will have its world premiere at the 23rd Ji.hlava IDFF, which opens on 24 October 2019.

BRATISLAVA: Tomáš Krupa from HAILSTONE has been selected to participate in the 2020 Emerging Producers programme for documentary film producers, which kicks off at the 23rd edition of the Ji.hlava IDFF, taking place 24-29 October 2019. FNE spoke with Tomáš Krupa about the issues facing documentary film producers.