The forum serves as a vital platform for fostering collaborative networks and supporting the evolution of documentary film. As in every year, it provided a dynamic setting for filmmakers, producers, and distributors to connect over projects at various phases of progress, from the development stage to production/post-production stages. Complementing the forum, the New Visions Market offered filmmakers an informal space to discuss creative concepts and funding needs with other film professionals, enhancing the potential for project visibility and new partnerships.
PROJECTS FROM FNE PARTNER COUNTRIES PRESENTED AT NEW VISIONS FORUM 2024:
Projects in Development Phase:
368 ASL (Czech Republic), Fiction with documentary aspects
Directed by Michael Jiřinec
Produced by Breathless Films s.r.o.
Young parents live in a caravan in a small village on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany. To lift the family out of poverty, the father gets involved with arms smugglers. The bleak, hypnotic microcosm of the landscape in which the action takes place is engulfed in a stupendous darkness in which lost souls move without a way out.
“This film is a meditation on the relentless forces that trap individuals in a bleak existence, where hope is an illusion, and every decision is a step deeper into the void. The story unfolds in a world where the landscape itself is a reflection of the characters' inner turmoil: a barren, unforgiving terrain that mirrors their souls, lost and searching for a way out that does not exist,” says the director in a statement.
The total budget is 120,000 EUR, of which 15,000 EUR is in place.
The estimated date of premiere is January 2026.
Looking for: coproducers.
Fantasma (Czech Republic, Slovakia), Experimental
Directed by Tomáš Klein
Produced by Cinémotif Films
Max takes us into a world where truth feels like the end of everything. During his Chamber REST (dark therapy), he uncovers that his deepest secrets are just fragments of a larger story, and the biggest deception is the film itself. Yet, even the end of the world doesn't taste as bitter as Max had feared.
“Fantasy and escapism are tools that help us overcome life's challenges, yet they can be as liberating as they are confining. This theme runs through works like Peer Gynt or perhaps London's The Star Rover. It is also the core theme of all my films, from Retriever to Sensitive Person. In this love story between two fabulous liars, set against the backdrop of dark therapy, I see an opportunity to explore this theme further, delving even deeper into an experimental format,” says the director in a statement.
The total budget is 120,757 EUR, of which 12,500 EUR is secured.
The estimated date of premiere is December 2025.
Looking for: coproducers, script consultants, distributors, film festivals
Green Is the Fire’s Tint (Romania, India, Italy), Documentary
Directed by Cristina Hanes, Arya Roth, Isabella Rinaldi
Producer: NoCut Film Collective
Somi, an indigenous woman, fought for the rights of India's indigenous communities as a Naxalite Maoist rebel. After leaving the movement, she and her family settled on land with other former Naxalites. One day, they received an eviction notice: the land had gained value due to a nearby iron mine, and a presumed owner is seeking real estate investment.
“We met Somi 7 years ago in a village in central India. Our encounter with her translated into A Rifle and a Bag, but furthermore into a strong relationship over the years. The three of us co-directed, coproduced, and were the only crew on location for A Rifle and a Bag. Our team is familiar with the filming location and welcomed by the community, who view the completed first film as a dignifying representation of them. Our personal relationship with Somi and her family has evolved over the years into a close friendship, and we are all eager to continue our filmic collaboration,” say the directors in a statement.
The total budget is 533,192 EUR with 79,000 EUR in place.
The estimated date of premiere is December 2025
Looking for: festival representatives, distributors, sales agents, commissioning editors
Sugarland (Poland), Documentary
Directed by Julia Groszek
Produced by Autograf
Coca-Cola is extremely important to the people of Chiapas. It is used ritually during prayers in church, it determines a person's status, and if a local politician wants to win the people's vote, he or she has to serve 180 cases of Coke at a rally. What's more, local healers (curanderos) believe in the healing power of Coca-Cola. There is an epidemic of diabetes and obesity in Chiapas, while at the same time, the Coca-Cola plants are depleting the groundwater, leaving residents without access to drinking water.
“There's probably no one in the world who doesn't know Coca-Cola. Coke is a symbol; it's a way of life; it's the best-tailored advertising, selling "values," being together, being cool. I am very sensitive to falsehoods and to being bullied. The promise that Coke makes can be deadly. Certainly for many people in Chiapas. There is a deep resentment in me against the exploitation of people for profit, against unbridled capitalism that kills the weak and pursues profit over dead bodies,” says the director in a statement.
The total budget is 376,744 EUR with 23,256 EUR secured.
The estimated date of premiere is October 2026.
Looking for: coproducers, broadcaster, sales agent, festival representative
Projects in Production and Postproduction Phase:
Books Are Our Weapons (Hungary), Hybrid documentary in postproduction
Directed by Maté Konkol
Produced by Maté Konkol, Balász Zachar
Noémi and Péter are new members of FÉSZEK, a community of university students who are committed to studying critical social theory and also changing the world as activists. They participate in debates, reading circles, forums, choir, and social life, and in the meantime realise how difficult it is to fit in, both for the first-generation college student girl coming from a working-class background, and the hedonistic, try-hard middle-class boy.
“It’s an incredibly difficult time to be a young filmmaker in Hungary. As the state funding is spent on nationalist historical productions, socially committed democratic films are not supported. Our film is about a commune of young activists who study sociology and feminism, very similar to the one that I was a student then teacher of, and where I became more conscious about emancipatory movements that I’m now a member of,” says the director in a statement.
The total budget is 17,000 EUR, of which 4,000 EUR is in place.
The estimated date of premiere is April 2025.
Looking for: coproducers
Divia (Ukraine, Poland, the Netherlands), Documentary inpostproduction
Directed by Dmytro Hreshko
Produced by UP UA STUDIO
Coproduced by Gogol Film, Valk Productions
Divia reveals Ukraine's journey through unprecedented Russian aggression and its aftermath: forests reduced to ashes, fields damaged by explosions, and the haunting presence of abandoned military wreckage amidst treacherous minefields. Amidst this desolation, nature stands as a silent witness, absorbing and beginning to heal from the scars of conflict. The meditative narrative without any dialogues follows deminers, body searchers, environmentalists, and animal activists, who navigate the wreckage, striving to quantify the tragedy's impact and restore Ukraine's fragile ecosystems.
“The destruction of nature is a significant part of the cost we Ukrainians pay for our freedom from Russia, which views nature and the world around it merely as resources for exploitation and expansion. Documenting the Russian military's eco-crimes and the destruction of natural landscapes and ecosystems is crucial. Understanding the scope of these issues is the first step toward solving them,” the director said in a statement.
The total budget is 348,231 EUR with 328,231 EUR in place.
The estimated date of premiere is December 2024.
Looking for: festival programmers, sales agents, distributors
Wasteland Chronicles (Slovakia, Czech Republic), Hybrid documentaryin production
Directed by Viera Čákanyová, Barbora Sliepková, Lucia Kašová
Produced by filmsomnia
Coproduced by Cinémotif Films
The ‘Triangle of Death’ lies in eastern Slovakia, well beyond the horizon of interest of politicians and the wider public. The three chemical plants are responsible for the largest PCB-contamination in Europe. Over the years, the tar pits in central Slovakia have morphed into a living mass. Every time it rains more than usual, the toxic water threatens to overtop the bank and inundate the residential part of the village. The contamination originating in the dump site of Bratislava chemical plant Istrochem has spread through the groundwater towards Žitnýostrov, the largest drinking water supply in Central Europe.
“Wasteland Chronicles presents three women directors’ perspectives on the three largest and most dangerous toxic dump sites in Slovakia. Each of the three episodes attempts, in its own way, to break out of the anthropocentric view on the issue of environmental hazards. The contaminated areas become a symbol of our relation to the earth, as well as a testament to humankind’s destructive nature,” say the directors in a statement.
The total budget is 220,270 EUR, of which 164,270 EUR is in place.
The estimated date of premiere is May 2025
Looking for: sales agents, financers, festival contacts
Click HERE for more information about the projects pitched at Ji.hlava New Visions Forum 2024.
