The 11 upcoming films, selected for KVIFF Central Stage in partnership with 8 national film institutes across the region, are directed by established filmmakers with extensive festival pedigrees, including Nicolas Steiner, Antonio Lukich, Olga Chajdas or Cristina Groșan.
These films in the making, seeking co-production, financing, sales, distribution, and festival premiere opportunities, will be showcased during an interactive talk show on the Film Industry Main Stage on Monday, July 6. The participating projects will also gain access to exclusive post-production advantages through partnership with industry-leading studios UPP and Soundsquare and are eligible for the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award.
The festival also unveiled the 8 literary works selected for Book-to-Screen at KVIFF, a new showcase that seeks to create a market for film adaptation rights to original IPs from Central and Eastern Europe and strengthen cooperation between the film and publishing industries. The award-winning books, selected by an international jury for their strong cinematic potential, will be presented to domestic and international producers in a talk show moderated by Niki Théron of the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday, July 7.
In total, this year’s KVIFF Promises will present 38 projects across 5 programs to producers, sales companies, distributors, festival programmers, and other professionals seeking quality emerging films or works available for adaptation: 11 feature films in KVIFF Central Stage, 9 treatments in Works in Development – Feature Launch and 4 in Works in Development – Focus Queer, 6 feature film or series projects in KVIFF Talents and 8 original literary IPs in Book-to-Screen at KVIFF. Details about all the showcases can be found on the KVIFF website or the Book of Projects.
Find more details about the selected projects in the press release.
List of KVIFF Central Stage 2026 selected projects:
The Flying Mountain (Switzerland, Ireland, Austria)
Director, Screenplay: Nicolas Steiner
Production: Katrin Renz, Stefan Jäger, Nicolas Steiner, David Collins, Eamon Hughes, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck
Screaming Girl (Ukraine, Ireland)
Director: Antonio Lukich
Screenplay: Antonio Lukich, Ailbhe Keogan
Production: Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko, Jessie Fisk, Annie Barclay
Noah (Ukraine, Croatia, Belgium)
Director, Screenplay: Marysia Nikitiuk
Production: Igor Savychenko, Hrvoje Osvadić, Sébastien Delloye
Lesdenzero (Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania)
Director: Cristina Groșan
Screenplay: Arne Kohlweyer, Cristina Groșan
Production: Marek Novák
The Stones Are Rolling to Prague (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Director, Screenplay: Tomáš Hodan
Production: Jakub Kraus, Martin Palán, Tibor Búza
A Few Branches Off (Czech Republic)
Director, Screenplay: Tomáš Pavlíček
Production: Eva Váchová, Pavel Vácha
Tribe (Poland, Albania)
Director, Screenplay: Olga Chajdas
Production: Karolina Galuba
Trainrider (Germany)
Director: Sebastian Fritzsch
Screenplay: Jan Bredehöft, Sebastian Fritzsch
Production: Corinna C. Poetter, Daniel Ehrenberg
Yugoslavia, My Fatherland (Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia)
Director: Goran Vojnović
Screenplay: Goran Vojnović, Aleksandar Popovski
Production: Boštjan Ikovic, Miloš Ivanović
Cowgirl (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary)
Director: Michal Blaško
Screenplay: Jakub Medvecký
Production: Jakub Viktorín, Tomáš Hrubý
Hansi (Austria)
Director: Sebastian Brauneis
Screenplay: Sebastian Brauneis, Helmut Emersberger
Production: Ulrich Gehmacher
Full list of Book-to-Screen at KVIFF 2026 projects:
Playing Wolf (Czech Republic)
Author: Zuzana Říhová
Genre: folk horror, psychological thriller
Publisher: Argo
The True Way Out (Czech Republic)
Author: Patrik Banga
Genre: coming-of-age, autobiography
Publisher: Host
Cupid at the Kremlin Wall (Georgia)
Author: Aka Morchiladze
Genre: historical drama, detective novel
Publisher: Sulakauri Publishing
Aspic Bistro (Lithuania)
Author: Ieva Dumbrytė
Genre: magic-realism satire
Publisher: Kitos knygos
Queen of Hearts (Moldova)
Author: Iulian Ciocan
Genre: dystopian novel
Publisher: Polirom
The River Odyssey of Kora from Willow Meadow (Poland)
Author: Adam Robiński
Genre: children's literature
Publisher: Widnokrąg
The Zone (Slovakia)
Author: Daniel Majling
Genre: graphic novel
Publisher: Brak
Amadoka (Ukraine)
Author: Sophia Andrukhovych
Genre: historical/war novel
Publisher: The Old Lion Publishing House
