At this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), the eighth edition of Future Frames – organised by European Film Promotion – will once again be on hand to help ten emerging European film directors take their next steps in the industry. The chosen participants, all film students and graduates from film schools spanning the length and breadth of Europe, will be in attendance at Karlovy Vary to showcase ten short films to the fulsome festival audiences and engage in an intensive programme that will introduce them to the film industry and the media.

It’s been announced that acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska will be the mentor for this year’s group, providing an exclusive private master class for the young filmmakers. Smoczyńska debuted in 2015 with The Lure [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
scheda film], the horror-musical that earned her a Special Jury Prize at Sundance and the New Europe – New Voices Award at Vilnius as well as numerous other plaudits whilst screening at the likes of Fantasia, Neuchâtel and Fantasporto.

Her second feature, Fugue [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
scheda film], premiered at Cannes as part of the Critics' Week, and in 2022, her English-language debut, The Silent Twins [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Agnieszka Smoczynska
scheda film], premiered in Un Certain Regard at the French gathering.

Smoczyńska took part in the European Cinema: Ten Women Filmmakers to Watch programme. She was also a winner of the Global Filmmaking Award, sponsored by the Sundance Institute. In 2022, she was named one of five directors to watch at the Cannes Film Festival.

This year, the Future Frames programme has entered into a new partnership with leading multi-national lottery operator Allwyn as well as US-based talent agency UTA and management company Range Media Partners. Representatives from UTA and Range Media Partners will provide feedback and guidance to the filmmakers, and ultimately select one participant to receive a special scholarship sponsored by Allwyn. This scholarship will enable the recipient to go to Los Angeles and learn from the best in the film industry.

The full selection of participants (interviews with whom will be published on Cineuropa during KVIFF) and films taking part in Future Frames 2023 is as follows:

Stuck Together - Anna Izabela Wowra (Czech Republic)
The Shift - Amalie Maria Nielsen (Denmark)
The Kidnapping of the Bride - Sophia Mocorrea (Germany)
Cut From the Same Cow - Giulia Regini (Italy)
-15 - Rinaldas Tomasevicius (Lithuania)
Frantic Attempts - Joris Tobé (Netherlands)
Home, Revised - Inês Pedrosa e Melo (Portugal)
Standing Still - Monika Mahútová (Slovakia)
Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays - Christian Avilés (Spain)
Heart Fruit - Kim Allamand (Switzerland)