The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, one of Europe’s most prestigious cinematic showcases, hosted the awards for its industry-focused Eastern Promises section on the evening of its penultimate day. This segment of the festival, designed to amplify voices and projects from Central and Eastern Europe, has emerged as a vital bridge between promising creatives and the international co-production ecosystem.
With 40 film and series entries vying for recognition in 2025, the Eastern Promises lineup reflected the region’s growing ambition. Movies drawing from Romanian absurdism, Ukrainian melancholia, Croatian surrealism and Polish introspection vied for attention. When winners were declared, it became clear that this still-emerging cinema push is beginning to attract industry oxygen at last.
Cultivating Central and Eastern Europe’s Cinematic Potential
The Eastern Promises market exists to strengthen the region’s relatively nascent co-production infrastructure, where financial support still lags behind Western Europe. The concept is built around the notion that promising film projects often die from lack of exposure to co-producers, distributors, festival programmers, and financiers. The Karlovy Vary organizers—led by Hugo Rosák, head of the festival’s Film Industry Office—amplified this mission through curated meetings, project pitches, and specialized awards dinners.
Rosák emphasized that while every participating country offers unique perspectives, many filmmakers remain inexperienced in the mechanisms of international co-financing. Eastern promises, he hopes, will lay the groundwork to change that. By fostering collaboration among Central and Eastern European producers, the festival aims to forge sustainable alliances. The carefully selected slate, chosen alongside national film institutes, is intended to showcase high-quality stories that can crossover—culturally and commercially.
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award: Battalion Records (Romania)
The grand prize, a €20,000 development award from Eurimages, was bestowed upon Battalion Records, a vibrant and anarchic debut from Romanian writer-director Ștefan Bîtu-Tudoran and producer Diana Caravia. The jury praised the film as a fearless confrontation with cultural erosion. In their view, Battalion Records takes an unconventional approach—a kind of absurdist heist comedythat explodes complacency in art by turning expectations upside down.
Set in a decaying cultural landscape, the narrative follows a ragtag ensemble plotting a surreal heist of artistic relics. Against a backdrop of institutional neglect, the film’s rebellious energy was seen as timely and necessary. It signals both an intention to entertain and a broader commentary on artistic desolation in post-industrial Europe.
The €20,000 infusion is expected to enable the film to refine its script, expand its budget, and secure co-producers in Germany, France, and possibly Scandinavia. For Bîtu-Tudoran, a director with strong roots in independent Romanian drama, this marks a launch into wider European visibility.
Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award: In Vacuo (Ukraine)
An extra €20,000 special prize, also from Eurimages, went to In Vacuo, a melancholic Ukrainian debut directed by Yelizaveta Smith and produced by Eugene Rachkovsky. Described as “particularly promising,” the jury emphasized the film’s skillful evocation of absence—of people, of future, of place—and its impact on communal identity.
Filmed primarily in Odessa, In Vacuo interweaves personal grief with collective trauma, following a character whose loss is echoed in empty streets, abandoned playgrounds, and silent public spaces. Its themes are timely: a reflection on the cultural erasure at the heart of Ukraine’s recent struggles. The award is a practical nod toward the resurgent energy of Ukrainian cinema, even amid socio-political challenges.
With these funds, the production team aims to secure further development support and expand its budget, potentially tapping into the creative energy of European partners in Poland, the Baltics, and beyond.
Midpoint & KVIFF Development Award: History of Illness (Croatia)
Shared between Midpoint, Barrandov Studio, and KVIFF, the Midpoint & KVIFF development award granted €10,000 to History of Illness, a Croatian feature by director-writer David Gašo, produced by Marta Eva Mećava. The jury lauded it as an unorthodox, atmospheric narrative. It mines discomfort, anxiety and absurdity, using tone and color more than clear character arcs to evoke disturbing unease.
History of Illness explores the labyrinthine space of human anxiety—a fragmented reality where the normal bleeds into black humor. It is not a conventional plot-driven drama but a cinematic landscape in which the intangible becomes visceral. This award will propel its development, likely enabling international financing to draw in Czech and Slovak producers through the Barrandov connection.
Connecting Cottbus Award: RadioAmateur (Poland)
The Connecting Cottbus award opens the door for Polish director Tomasz Habowski and producer Marta Szarzyńska to present RadioAmateur at the Cottbus East-West Co-Production Market in Germany. The jury was moved by its striking narrative about communication’s fragility. They described the story as haunting yet unsentimental, centered on a character likened to a “dinosaur” holding a phone to an empty line—searching for a response that may not exist.
The narrative’s intimacy arises from its simplicity, yet the emotional core is universal: isolation, missed connection, technological memory. The award gives RadioAmateur access to potential partners from Germany, France, and Scandinavia—regions known for supporting introspective European cinema.
Rotterdam Lab Award: Ondřej Lukeš (Restless, Czech Republic)
The Rotterdam Lab Award was won by Czech producer Ondřej Lukeš for his work on Restless, a film yet to be released in a formal sense. This prize prizes experienced producers who have strong projects under their belt, and Lukeš, with his steady Czech film track record, stands to benefit greatly.
The Rotterdam Lab program, a collaboration with the International Film Festival Rotterdam, offers producers mentorship and development seminars. The invitation is as much about nurturing a Czech producer into the European co-production stage as it is about that specific project’s success. By attending, Lukeš will also meet fellow producers, build essential contacts, and build a bridge to the Amsterdam film scene—expanding Czech filmmaking’s international footprint.
Marché du Film Producers Network Award: Soyboy (UK) & Democracy: Work In Progress (Hungary/Czech/Germany)
This year’s Marché du Film Producers Network Award, which offers access to the Cannes Producers Network, was shared by Soyboy producer Michelle Brøndum Hauerbach from the United Kingdom, and Democracy: Work In Progress producer Genovéva Petrovits, representing a Hungarian-Czech-German co-production.
Soyboy is expected to be a dark satire examining masculinity and identity amid modern political and social unrest. Meanwhile, Democracy: Work In Progress appears to be a socio-political documentary, highlighting post-communist democratic transitions across Central Europe. Both projects weave local perspectives into broader thematic dialogues.
Participation in the Cannes Producers Network signals permission to enter the international co-production circuit. This pathway often triggers interest from European broadcasters, NGO funding, and festival programmers ahead of market launches.
Eastern Promises and the Cultural Map of Europe
Eastern Promises is more than a film market—it is a cultural exchange hub. It provides a forum for Central and Eastern European filmmakers to present at Karlovy Vary’s international event and test their creative pitches among peers and potential collaborators.
In the three-day event, project teams refine public pitches, meet financiers and co-producers in pitch sessions, and attend bespoke roundtables. The awards are the visible fruits, but the larger harvest is the contacts forged—producers who can tap into cross-border resources, share costs, and access co-production funds from institutions like Eurimages, Solidaire, or national film boards.
The underlying challenge remains that while Central and Eastern European culture is rich, its film infrastructure is still maturing. Local funding bodies may cover up to 50 percent of a budget, but securing the rest, especially for international shoots, remains difficult. Given rising production costs and shifting audience habits, events like Eastern Promises play two roles: they highlight marginal talent and prepare them for Europe-wide visibility.
Averting the Risk of Overreach
Hugo Rosák’s mission is two-fold: trust and scale. Curating projects from countries that have rarely enjoyed pan-European success—Ukraine, Croatia, Poland—can help coax local producers outside their national circuits. But it is also about pacing growth; not every film should chase populist exits via Netflix. At the same time, niche regional cinema benefits from cross-border collaboration, both for budgets and cultural impact.
“By curating projects with national film institutes,” Rosák explained, “we offer investors a slate they can trust. You are not gambling on the unknown.” The structure encourages national pride alongside international ambition. A film can still premiere at Karlovy Vary and travel to Toronto or Venice—even Cannes—if aligned creatively and financially.
Future Outlook: What Comes Next for the Winners
For Battalion Records, the task ahead is to use the €20,000 to finalize a co-production pact—potentially with Eastern Europe and German financial partners. The shared blend of anarchic humor and cultural commentary strikes a multicultural chord, granting it crossover potential in German, Polish, and Austrian independent cinemas.
In Vacuo, given its sensitive Ukrainian context, may find particular resonance in diaspora communities and film settings focusing on cultural memory. Additional backing may come from Polish or Baltic institutes, as well as Eurimages co-financing.
History of Illness faces the challenge of converting its abstract promise into a marketable film. It has began engaging with Czech and Slovak production companies, and the Midpoint funding will help it build a creative roadmap that balances atmosphere with accessibility.
RadioAmateur, with its raw emotional core, will test whether quiet, character-focused stories can survive in a festival ecosystem known for bold visuals. Yet its connection to Germany’s Connecting Cottbus market should nudge it toward niche distribution deals.
Ondřej Lukeš’s next step at Rotterdam Lab could redefine Czech producing involvement on an international scale. If Restless finds scour partners, Czech cinema will be better connected to Belgian, Danish, or Dutch sources.
And finally, Soyboy and Democracy: Work in Progress stand to benefit from Cannes exposure. Both will likely debut as part of the 2026 Cannes market lineup, welcomed by public broadcasters and European art-house buyers.
A Turning Point for Regional Cinema
Although Eastern Promises began a decade ago as a modest section of KVIFF’s market, its influence now reaches across Europe. This year’s winners show that ambition is shifting from small-scale art-house to regionally resonant features and festival-ready cinema. With stronger funding linkages, these films could serve as ambassadors for Central and Eastern Europe’s creative renaissance.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also sharpened Western interest in filmmakers like Yelizaveta Smith, whose work speaks to displacement and identity. That context transforms In Vacuo from an art-house feature into a meaningful cultural document.
Likewise, diplomatic shifts—Poland’s new art-house prize distributions, Croatia’s doubled film support, Czechia’s financial incentives—all converge at crossroads like Karlovy Vary. In these moments, films are not just cultural artifacts but political and economic investments, capable of carrying national reputations across borders.
Building a European Creative Future
The 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Eastern Promises awards delivered more than headlines. By elevating films like Battalion Records, In Vacuo, History of Illness, and RadioAmateur, the festival extended a lifeline to stories shaped by recent history, cultural malaise, and stylistic fearlessness.
These prizes are not endpoints; they are signals. They say: we believe in these voices, we expect co-production, co-distribution, film festival momentum, and audience engagement. They say: Central and Eastern Europe can produce work that is both local and universal.
Ultimately, Eastern Promises is a laboratory for cinematic futures that may not yet exist. It is a space where regionally minded films become global films. As the market’s infrastructure strengthens, both ambition and opportunity grow. And with that, the next wave of passionate filmmakers will finally find studios—on and off the screen—that believe in their voice.