To watch the panel discussion click HERE. 

The Panel discussion Festivals 2.0: How to Approach the Audience in the Post-COVID Era, organised by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with Film New Europe and One World Film Festival, and supported by the International Visegrad Fund, was held on 30 March 2022 at 5:30 pm (CET) at Kino 35 (French Institute in Prague) within the East Doc Platform.

PRAGUE: FNE spoke to Marta Švecová Lamperová, the artistic director of the International Film Festival Prague - FEBIOFEST, about the 29th edition of FABIOFEST in Prague, which will take place in a physical format from 28 April to 4 May 2022, in compliance with state regulations regarding the safety of participants.

PRAGUE: Digital Video-On-Demand (VOD) revenues are expected to keep increasing in the Czech Republic, according to some film distributors in the country, even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes across Europe and the continent continues to recover from the coronavirus crisis

PRAGUE: Despite some reprieve from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Czech film exhibitors recorded market instability throughout last year and the beginning of 2022, with theatres unable to attract pre-crisis audience numbers.

PRAGUE: FNE spoke to Czech producer Ondřej Zima from FILM KOLEKTIV, Evolution Films and Offside Men, about the challenges he faced as a producer during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the film industry in the Czech Republic is recovering.

PRAGUE: The Panel discussion Festivals 2.0: How to Approach the Audience in the Post-COVID Era, organised by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with Film New Europe and One World Film Festival, and supported by the International Visegrad Fund, will be held on 30 March 2022 at 5:30 pm (CET) at Kino 35 (French Institute in Prague) within the East Doc Platform.

PRAGUE: According to a report by the Association of Producers in the Audiovisual Industry (APA), the Czech audiovisual market fell by more than 20 percent, namely by CZK 1.7 billion, in 2020 compared to 2019, when the audiovisual industry recorded its best result (9.4 billion CZK) in the past 20 years.

PRAGUE: FNE spoke to Marek Jeníček, managing director of CinemArt, which distributes award-winning films selected from among European productions and international festivals.

FNE’s Georgian correspondent Alexander Gabelia spoke to Czech distributor Jan Jílek, who is programme Director of AČFK, about the challenges he has faced as a distributor during the pandemic, as well as about the post-pandemic recovery of the Czech distribution and exhibition. Jan talks about the lessons learned and the future of the film industry in the Czech Republic.

Pitch the Doc is an innovative online platform dedicated to documentary projects, that provides functionalities based on international pitching standards and allows to keep presentations of documentary film projects complete, updated and easily searchable.

FNE’s Georgian correspondent and film critic Alexander Gabelia spoke to Czech Hana Blaha Šilarová, producer at Frame Films, about the challenges she has faced as a producer during the pandemic, as well as about the post-pandemic recovery of the Czech film industry. Hana also talked about her latest projects and the path of cinema that she has to go through.

FNE’s Georgian correspondent and film critic Alexander Gabelia spoke to Czech Jan Bradáč, who is executive director of the Cinestar, about the challenges he has faced as a cinema operator during the pandemic, as well as about the post-pandemic recovery of the Czech exhibition. He talks about films, audiences, the role of state support and distribution. Jan is also head of the Falcon distribution company.

BUDAPEST: Producer Viktoria Petrányi, the co-founder of Proton Cinema, whose long list of credits includes Hungarian award-winning titles such as White God, as well as acclaimed international productions, talks to FNE about the Hungarian production sector as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

BRATISLAVA: Ivan Hronec is a founder and CEO of Film Europe, which distributes award-winning films selected from European productions and international festivals. He is also an exhibitor with two famous art house cinemas as well as the operator of the Film Europe TV Channel and VOD platform Edsonline, giving him a unique overview of both the exhibition and distribution sectors.

BUDAPEST: The Hungarian film industry will close a record year in 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with a spend of more than 200 billion HUF / 544m EUR, the country’s National Film Bureau's preliminary figures show.

FNE’s Georgian correspondent Alexander Gabelia spoke to Jiri Konecny, emerging producer from the Czech Republic, about the challenges he has faced as a producer during the pandemic, as well as about the post-pandemic recovery of the European film industry, the 2021 films that he produced or coproduced, and the importance of international coproductions.