master class with award-winning polish director agnieszka smoczyńska

EFP (European Film Promotion) and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) are delighted to announce that the acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska is this year's mentor for EFP FUTURE FRAMES - Generation NEXT of European Cinema at KVIFF from June 30 to July 8.

In an exclusive master class entitled "How to make your first movie“, Agnieszka Smoczyńska will talk about her experiences and encourage the young directors to follow their ideas and go their own ways. Smoczyńska will present her highly-acclaimed first feature film, The Lure, a mixture of musical and horror film.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska debuted in 2015 with The Lure – a genre-bending, horror-musical mashup which won awards around the world at dozens of international film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival Porto, Sofia, Montreal and Vilnius. The Lure is a part of the prestigious Criterion Collection and was theatrically released in the US via Janus Film. Her second feature film, Fugue premiered at Cannes in the Critics' Week section with a US theatrical release in 2023. In 2022, her English-language debut, The Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Smoczyńska took part in the European Cinema: Ten Women Filmmakers to Watch programme and in EFP’s Programme EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM. She was also a winner of the Global Filmmaking Award sponsored by the Sundance Institute. In 2022 she was among five directors to watch at the Cannes Film Festival.

Smoczyńska's involvement is part of an intensive programme introducing the ten emerging filmmakers to the film industry and media as well as presenting their films to the festival audience.

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FUTURE FRAMES is supported by Creative Europe – Media and the participating national film promotion institutes, EFP's member organisations: Cinecittà (Italy), Czech Film Center, Danish Film Institute, German Films, Lithuanian Film Centre, Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual I.P. / ICA (Portugal), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales / ICAA (Spain), SEE NL (The Netherlands), Slovak Film Institute and SWISS FILMS. Allwyn, a leading multi-national lottery operator and new partner of KVIFF, will invite one of the selected filmmakers to the US via a scholarship. The main media partner is Variety, with Cineuropa and Fred Film Radio as additional partners.

Films are available for selected industry upon request via EFP's partner T-Port

EFP FUTURE FRAMES – Generation NEXT of European Cinema, in collaboration with Karlovy Vary Film Festival (KVIFF), is made possible thanks to the support of Creative Europe – the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and Allwyn, a leading multi-national lottery operator, as well as the participating national film promotion institutes, EFP's member organisations: Cinecittà (Italy), Czech Film Center, Danish Film Institute, German Films, Lithuanian Film Centre, Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual I.P. / ICA (Portugal), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales / ICAA (Spain), SEE NL (The Netherlands), Slovak Film Institute and SWISS FILMS. The main media partner is Variety, with Cineuropa and Fred Film Radio as additional media partners.

about karlovy vary international film festival

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest A-list film festivals, a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, San Sebastian, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe.

about allwyn

As a partner of KVIFF, Allwyn, a leading multi-national lottery operator, will host the Allwyn Future Frames Lounge on site and bring the ten emerging European talents together with industry leaders, including overseas talent agency UTA and management company Range Media Partners. Allwyn’s new celebration evening will commemorate the work of all ten selected directors. In addition, introduced this year through partnership with Allwyn, one fortunate director of the group will be afforded a scholarship to Hollywood.

"We look forward to welcoming all the talented directors to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this year, selected as part of the Future Frames initiative. We are also very much looking forward to welcoming one of the ten directors on the newly established scholarship to Hollywood, introduced this year in partnership with UTA and Range Media. Changing lives is core to our mission and we are very pleased to be affording talented directors the opportunity to work with the very best in the film industry." (Pavel Turek, Allwyn's Chief Officer of Global Brand, Corporate Communication, and CSR)