BRATISLAVA: Slovak director Mariana Čengel Solčanská is finishing preproduction on the fairytale The Enchanted Cave / Zakliata jaskyňa. Shooting of the Slovak/Czech/Slovenian coproduction is planned for the summer of 2020.

BRATISLAVA: The year 2019 was more successful for Slovak cinema compared to 2018 in terms of admissions and also the large number of domestic titles released in cinemas.

BRATISLAVA: The political thriller Scumbag / Sviňa, directed and produced by Mariana Čengel Solčanská and Rudolf Biermann, set a new record for a Slovak film with 98,056 admissions and 633,047 EUR gross in its first weekend (6 - 9 February 2020). The film is a Slovak/Czech coproduction.

BRATISLAVA: The romantic comedy A Too Personal Acquaintance/ Príliš osobná známosť directed by Slovak director Marta Ferencová, topped the Slovak weekend box office during its opening (16-19 January 2020) with 70,712 admissions and 425,593 EUR gross. This Czech/Slovak coproduction is based on a story by the popular Slovak writer Evita Twardzik Urbaníková.

BRATISLAVA: The fifth and final season of the TV series Van Helsing will be partly filmed in Slovakia. The American/Canadian dark fantasy TV series registered for incentives at the Slovak Audiovisual Fund through the Slovak production company Spectral s.r.o. at the end of 2019.

BRATISLAVA: Admissions at the Slovak box office made major gains in 2019 over the previous year. Although official statistics are not available according to preliminary information 3,056,019 tickets were sold in Slovak cinemas in the first six months of 2019, representing an average of 32 tickets per screening, compared to 27 tickets in the similar period in 2018. The number of domestic films released also increased in 2019 compared to the previous year.

BRATISLAVA: We spoke with Slovak producer Wanda Adamík Hrycová about the series Slavs / Slovania, a Slovak/Ukrainian coproduction she is producing through Wandal Production, and also about her activity as the new Head of the Slovak Film and TV Academy (SFTA).

BRATISLAVA: The epic historical TV series Slavs / Slovania by Jozef Koleják, Veronika Kolejáková and Ján Luterán is currently in final postproduction with the first six of its 12 episodes in final cut stage. This Slovak/Ukrainian coproduction between Wanda Hrycová´s Wandal Production and Andrey Yermak´s European Partnership Media Group will premiere on TV JOJ in Slovakia and 1+1 channel in the Ukraine in the autumn of 2020.

BRATISLAVA: Jakub Kroner‘s romantic comedy The New Year´s Kiss / Šťastný nový rok topped the Slovak weekend box office during its opening (5-8 December 2019), with 56,555 admissions and 337,680 EUR gross.

BRATISLAVA: The Bratislava International Film Festival has cancelled its 2019 edition, which was due in December, but it plans to develop into a modern and larger film event next year.