Karlovy Vary pitches include Mira Fornay film

Czech and Slovak filmmakers presented seven projects in development, which are considered to have international co-production potential.

Among these was Cook, F**k, Kill (Frogs With No Tongues), the third feature from Slovakian filmmaker Mira Fornay, described an absurdist drama about domestic violence.

First pitched at the Sofia Meetings in March, the film follows her 2009 feature debut Little Foxes and 2013’s My Dog Killer, which won a Tiger Award at last year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam and was Slovakia’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Oscar.

Cook, F**k, Kill is produced by Fornay’s company, Mirafox, and is slated to shoot in spring 2015 for release in spring 2016 with a budget of €1.15m.

Fornay said of the film: “I believe that my absurd drama rendered in non-traditional form will bring new perspective on intimacy, sexuality, violence, especially the domestic one, in our modern society.”

The jury of experts comprise Film Fund Luxembourg MD Guy Daleiden; Rezo Films International MD Laurent Danielou; Rome Film Fesitval selection committee member Marie-Pierre Duhamel; French producer and screenwriter Geoffroy Grison; and Jani Thiltges, CEO of Samsa Film in Luxembourg and head of studies at EAVE.

Pitch & Feedback projects

The Beauteous (Prekrasni)
dir Jan Kobler, pro Michal Kracmer
Czech Republic

The stories of two men are told in parallel stories. They meet and are attracted to each other. Although they separate that same night, the encounter changes them.

Binderiana
pro Jana Bebrova, Zdenek Holy, copro Jacek Naglowski
Czech Republic, Poland

Set in Poland and Czechoslavakia at the beginning of the 1970s, it tells the story of Marko Binder, a secret agent of communist Poland who falls in love with a French scientist. They meet a supernatural old man who can see the future and kidnap him to save him from dark forces.

Cook, F**k, Kill (Frogs With No Tongues)
dir/pro Mira Fornay
Slovak Republic

Described as an absurd drama, it follows one day in the life of a perpetrator of domestic violence, a handsome hospital attendant obsessed with sex and cooking.

Erik
dir Juraj Lehotsky, pro Ivan Ostrochovsky, copro Jiri Konecny
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic

Erik is an eight-year-old who watches his parents’ divorce in silence. When the boy is involved in a car crash, he dives into his own world further.

Hanna and Marie
dir Zdenek Jirasky, pro Jordi Niubo
Czech Republic

A psychological drama set amid a struggling family that includes prostitution, organ transplants, alienation and loneliness.

Hastrman
dir Ondrej Havelka, pro Cestmir Kopecky
Czech Republic

An adaptation of Milos Urban’s novel that tells the tale of a strange, wild figure that returns to a small Czech village after years abroad.

The Tattooist (Kerkar)
dir Martin Repka, pro Zuzana Mistrikova, copro Vratislav Slajer
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic

Maro is released from prison after several years and reopens his old tattoo parlour. After being approached by his teen son looking to reconnect with his father, Maro embroils his boy into a plan for revenge.

Docu Talents from the East

The Docu Talents from the East showcase featured 12 documentary projects in production or post-production from Central and Eastern Europe. They are:

Anthill (Sipelgapesa)
dir Vladimir Loginov, pro Elina Litvinova
Estonia

A portrait of a giant garage complex located in the largest housing estate in Tallinn, where 700 box owners form an extraordinary men’s club.

Daniel’s World (Danieluv svet)
dir Veronika Liskova, pro Zdenek Holy
Czech Republic

A portrayal of a community of Czech pedophiles.

Far Beyond the Sun (Daleko za sluncem)
dir Olga Spatova, pros Tereza Polachova, Hana Kastelicova
Czech Republic

The story of medic Ales Barta who dedicated himself to building a small rural hospital in western Kenya.

Gadjo (Gadzo)
dir Tomas Kratochvil, pro Filip Remunda
Czech Republic

The story of a man who moves from the centre of Prague to supposedly the worst gypsy ghetto in the Czech Republic.

In the Rays of Sun (V paprscich slunce)
dir Vitaly Mansky, pro Filip Remunda
Czech Republic, Russia, Germany

The filmmakers secured access to film life in North Korea, following a family in Pyongyang over the course of one year.

Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land
dir Gilad Baram, pros Yulie Cohen, Radim Prochazka
Israel, Czech Republic, France

Renowned Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, who shot iconic images of the Russian invasion of Prague 40 years ago, travels to the Holy Land to take pictures of another conflict zone in Israel and Palestine.

Love Express. The Strange Case of Walerian Borowczyk
dir Kuba Mikurda, pro Danuta Gegotek
Poland

An insight into the sexual revolution and its aftermath through the career of cineaste maudit Walerian Borowczyk.

My Farm Is My Castle (Jama)
dir Jiri Stejskal, pros Pavla Kubeckova, Tomas Hruby
Czech Republic

A five-year portrait of a family in Ukraine whose home is trapped between high-rise buildings after resisting development plans in their once small village.

Okhwan. Mission Impossible
dir Marek Mackovic, pro Toma Kaminsky
Slovak Republic, UK

A feature based on the South Korean star of Kevin Macdonald’s Life in a Day, Okhwan Yoon – a former businessman who embarked on a decade of cycling through 192 countries.

Our Atlantis
dir/pro Arthur Sukiasyan
Armenia, France, Turkey

This doc is about an Armenian camp in Istanbul, built by orphans in the 1960s.

Reporter
dir Magdalena Szymkow, pro Francesco Ragazzi
Poland, UK

A found-footage portrait of writer and reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski.

The Serbian Lawyer
dir/pro Aleksandar Nikolic
Germany, UK

Ten years after fleeing the regime in Serbia, Marko finds himself defending some of the people he fought against while living there, including the notorious Radovan Karadzic.