and steered by respected Head of Film Industry Office Hugo Rosák, the popular program promotes promising filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and connects them with distributors, sales agents, producers and festival programmers.
In addition to a busy schedule of workshops and panels, the main goal of the event is to showcase carefully selected projects at various stages of development through its three works in progress programs: Works In Progress; Works In Development – Feature Launch; and First Cut+. Projects all compete for various prizes throughout the event.“When we started Eastern Promises we always wanted to be a kind of incubator to introduce unfinished work to industry professionals,” Rosák tells.
“It was important for us this year to continue our mission to bring quality projects from the region and present them to buyers and producers who can bring them closer to distribution,” Rosák says. “When we were discussing what to do in terms of the industry lineup earlier this year, there was still a very unclear situation on whether people would be able to travel or not so we decided to do it online before the festival and we could adjust the schedule accordingly.
This year a raft of diverse and personal stories won awards in the Eastern Promises strand. Documentaries were allowed to compete against feature films for the first time this year, a new approach that mirrors the festival’s rejig of its main competition. “Both categories, despite their differences, possess the same artistic value,” says Rosák.