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At the Karlovy Vary Film Festival this week, the Future Frames program, which acts as a springboard for up-and-coming European directors, celebrated its 10th anniversary. During a panel discussion staged by Variety, organizers and backers of the program explained how Future Frames transforms the lives of young filmmakers.

Kicking off the discussion, Sonja Heinen, managing director of European Film Promotion, which organizes the initiative, explained that the 37 film institutes that are represented by Efp nominate up to two young filmmaker each. “These are outstanding people from their country,” she said. Then the programmers from Karlovy Vary select the 10 filmmakers who take part in the Future Frames program, and their short films screen at the festival.

While they are at the festival, the participants get to meet a range of industry professionals. “We can help them with their entrée into the international market, so we match-make them with producers, funds, sales...

Come one, come all, Insiders. Jesse Whittock back again this week to take you through the past week in international film and TV. Let’s get started. If you’re not already subscribed, click here and make that right.

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Indie shake-up: There’s a new kid in town. Yesterday, Andreas broke the news of Europe’s latest consolidation player: Vuelta Group. Led by French media vet Jerome Levy, the company has launched through the acquisitions of France’s Playtime Group, Germany’s SquareOne and Nordic producer-distributor Scanbox. More companies are expected to join the club, as the indie film sector welcomes a new heavyweight to rival the likes of Leonine, Mediawan and Asacha Media, who have all emerged as major presences in recent years. Also in the European indie sector are the established TV players such as Banijay and Fremantle. Each of Vuelta’s acquisitions are...

Emerging Danish director Amalie-Maria Nielsen has been announced as the first recipient of a new Los Angeles-based scholarship, created in collaboration with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), talent agency UTA and management company Range Media Partners.

The scholarship, which is joint venture between European Film Promotion (Efp) and Allwyn, a leading multi-national lottery operator, is reserved for one of the filmmakers participating in Efp’s annual Future Frames initiative supporting emerging European talent at Kviff.

Nielsen was a participant in this year’s edition with her short film The Shift about a youngster figuring out her gender identity against the backdrop of a home for wayward girls.

The work originally world premiered in Berlin’s Generation Kplus shorts line-up this year and was also a nominee for the Teddy Award.

The Efp network, bringing together film promotion institutes from 37 countries across Europe, launched the Future Frames initiative at...

Once again, 10 promising directors are making their way to Karlovy Vary Film Festival thanks to European Film Promotion’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema initiative, ready to burst onto the international film scene.

“Over the past few years, we have established a reliable label with Future Frames,” says Sonja Heinen, Efp’s managing director, adding that the goals have remained the same: spotlighting talent, creating visibility for the emerging directors, and helping them access the market.

“Being selected gives them a certain stamp of approval. They get a platform to exchange and experience, and are equipped with coaching which they can use later in their career,” adds Nora Goldstein, project director.

Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, behind Sundance award-winner “The Lure” and Cannes title “Silent Twins,” is this year’s mentor.

Getting access to the Efp network also means being welcomed into a “family from all parts of Europe,...

Bobby Farrelly’s ‘Champions’ will close the Czech event.

US actress and filmmaker Robin Wright will be the latest recipient of the President’s Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Wright will receive the award at the closing ceremony for the 57th edition, on Saturday, July 8. The festival has also added Rob Reiner’s 1987 adventure comedy The Princess Bride starring Wright to its programme.

Wright joins Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander in receiving the President’s Award at this year’s event; previous recipients include Benicio Del Toro, Ethan Hawke and Jude Law.

The festival will also pay homage to US producer Christine Vachon.

Actress and director Robin Wright will be the featured guest at Karlovy Vary’s closing ceremony on July 8, where she will receive the festival’s Honorary President’s Award.

Across her career, Wright has received three Golden Globe nominations, with a win in 2014; five Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations; and five consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performances in Netflix’s House Of Cards.

On the night, the presentation of Wright’s award will precede the festival’s closing film, the Woody Harrelson-starrer Champions. The pic, directed by Bobby Farrelly, follows a former minor-league basketball coach who is ordered by a court to manage a team of players with intellectual disabilities. He soon realizes that despite his doubts, this team can go further than they ever imagined. The film opened in the States in March.

Karlovy Vary will also honor stalwart...

The Berlin Film Festival’s youth-focused sidebar Generation 14plus is set to open with “When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before,” the anticipated next film of Sonja Heiss and und Zeevonk von Domien Huyghe.

Based on Joachim Meyerhoff’s eponymous novel, “When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before” tells the comedic and moving story of a childhood and youth spent on the grounds of a psychiatric clinic.

Meanwhile, Domien Huyghe’s moving film “Sea Sparkle” will kick off the Generation Kplus competition. The film follows 12-year-old Lena who relentlessly battles with the tides of her grief after the death of her father, which she blames on a sea monster.

The Generation selection pans 25 feature-length and 31 short films, including 40 world premieres. The Berlinale team said this year’s lineup will invite audiences on an “exploration of young perceptions of the world.”

“The films in this...