Over the coming months, the Prague-based dok.incubator rough-cut programme will workshop eight documentary projects from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, soon to be released to international audiences.
These will be presented in parallel with the eight International projects, previously announced. “From topics spinning around ecology, animal rights, beauty standards and independent press to personal family stories and artists’ portraits, the selected [regional] films have the ambition to premiere at prestigious festivals in the coming year,” organisers write.
The regional filmmaking teams will work intensively with top international tutors, focusing on editing and dramaturgy as well as marketing and distribution. Quality development and mentoring can help films not only to have interesting festival premieres, but more importantly, to reach their audiences, organisers underline.
“In the age of streaming platforms, engaging audiences and bringing them to the cinema for documentary screenings is increasingly difficult. That’s why we help selected films find the right way to reach the audience, which I consider a necessary part of any film’s development. I am happy that this year we will be working with interesting and original documentaries, and I believe that we will hear a lot about each of them next year,” says Andrea Prenghyová, dok.incubator CEO.
The dok.incubator regional projects are as follows:
- 80 Angry Journalists (DE, CZ, NO, HU) Director: András Földes, Editor: Anna Kis, Producer: Lorand Balazs Imre, Co-producer: Vít Janeček. Synopsis: When Hungary’s largest independent news outlet, Index.hu, is taken over by pro-government forces, conflict zone reporter András Földes films his own newsroom as 80 journalists resign in protest. Attempting a fresh start, they launch Telex.hu, but inner conflicts threaten the fragile dream. Can independent journalism survive in an increasingly oppressive regime?
- Animals of the East (SK) Director: Anna Durisikova, Editor: Vladimíra Vrbiňáková, Producer: Andrej Kolečník. Synopsis: In a village in the east of Slovakia, a group of young adults and kids run a sanctuary for abused and handicapped animals—so called “farmed” animals, which can live a free social life here and grow old peacefully. However, they have to deal with a lack of understanding and narrow-minded legislation. Fortunately, they have each other and create a sanctuary not only for animals but also for people.
- Blossoming (PL) Director: Kamila Serwicka, Editors: Julia Oleksy, Jakub Darewski, Producer: Adrianna Rędzia. Synopsis: Agnieszka and her daughters attend the trial of her abusive husband. A year earlier, she struggles with violence, family pressure, and financial hardship. Despite the husband’s conviction, divorce takes time. Moving to the Netherlands, she faces loneliness and loss, but her daughters—her “Little Women”—stand by her as they all seek their own strength.
- Candidates of Death (PL) Director: Maciej Cuske, Editor: Katarzyna Orzechowska, Producer: Ewa Hoffmann. Synopsis: Fifteen years ago, I took my son and two of his young friends on vacation, during which we filmed an amateur horror movie together. Little did I know then that it would turn into one of the greatest adventures of my life, lasting over a decade. ‘Candidates of Death’ is a film about the power of great friendship, growing up, our fears, dreams, and plans, set against the backdrop of a grand cinematic adventure spanning decades.
- Glowing (CZ) Director: Martin Páv, Editor: Hedvika Hansalová, Producer: Zuzana Kučerová. Synopsis: In this world, to glow means many things: to achieve success in life, to meet someone who truly loves you, to perform well on social media, to look perfect, or to have a lighter skin than others. Taking place in New Delhi, Nairobi, and Seoul, the film tells stories of six protagonists from different cultural, as well as socio-economic backgrounds, who share one thing in common – in order to glow, they apply various skin-lightening products.
- Light it Before it Burns (CZ, DE) Director: Markéta Ekrt Valková, editor: Jan Daňhel, producer: Gordon Lovitt. Synopsis: An ecologist wants to use fire to protect the environment. Is there method in his madness? A story of how fire can be a positive tool in our era of global warming and symbol for both renewal and societal change
- Milota (SK) Director, editor: Jana Bučka Kovalčíková, Producer: Livia Filusova, Dramaturgist: Alexandra Gunišová Ševčíková. Synopsis: Milota Havránková is a phenomenon — a fearless experimenter and an unmistakable voice in Slovak art. The first woman to graduate in photography from FAMU, Milota carved her own path through surrealism, pop-art, and the edges of multimedia expression. She has never followed trends, she has created them, constantly defying conventions with a radical sense of freedom. Together with her equally free-spirited family, she forms a mosaic of creativity, individuality, and bold extravagance.
- We Have to Survive (SK, FR, AT) Director, producer: Tomáš Krupa, Editor: Peter Kudlička. Synopsis: Mankind is unlikely to stop climate change, but it can adapt to the new, harder conditions. WE HAVE TO SURVIVE takes us on a journey to the four corners of the planet to meet the first climate pioneers, who are already forced to mitigate local effects of global warming and adapt to the new harder living conditions.
