Daughter, a story about a complicated relationship between a daughter and her father, has been selected for Short Cuts at Toronto International Film Festival 2019. Animated short scored big at Annecy in June winning two major awards: Cristal for a Graduation Film and Junior Jury Award for a Graduation Film. The film, directed by FAMU student Daria Kashcheeva, produced by FAMU and co-produced by MAUR film, was also a part of Czech Films 2018-2019 selection at 54th KVIFF, and was nominated for Student Oscar last week.

Václav Marhoul's long-awaited adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński's infamous novel The Painted Bird will compete for a Golden Lion at Venice IFF, after that, the film will have its North American Premiere at Toronto in Special Presentations. The Painted Bird is the first ever Czech film selected for this prestigious section.

Last week, the festival announced that The Sleepers, directed by Ivan Zachariáš and produced by HBO Europe, will have its International Premiere in Primetime. The first two episodes of Zachariáš's spy thriller TV series premiered in Special Events at KVIFF earlier this year. The project was supported by the production incentives programme of Czech Film Fund with EUR 831 373.

In addition, State Funeral, a documentary of found footage that chronicles the four days leading up to the funeral of Joseph Stalin, will be introduced at Wavelengths. The Dutch-Lithuanian-Czech film, directed by acclaimed director Sergei Loznitsa (Donbass, A Gentle Creature), is co-produced by nutprodukce on the Czech side, and will premiere Out of Competition at Venice IFF.

Taika Watiti's anti-war satire Jojo Rabbit (World Premiere in Special Presentations), starring Scarlett Johansson and Acadamey Award winner Sam Rockwell, was shot in the Czech Republic in 2018 and was backed by the production incentives programme of the Czech Film Fund with EUR 1,370,498.

Czechs also participated in Mahnaz Mohammadi's Iranian drama Son-Mother (World Premiere in Discovery) which was post-produced in the Czech Republic.