Six projects applied in this year's call for debut feature films production support, with the allocation of EUR 400,000. In making the decision, the Fund's Council took into account not only the artistic quality of the projects, but also the stage of development and financial aspects. In the end, two projects were selected for the support.

Flood (Potopa), produced by experienced producer Viktor Schwarcz of Cineart TV Prague, is the debut by director and co-writer Martin Gonda and writers Dominika Udvorková and Martin Šuster. The project stands out for its powerful story, creative background, and co-production structure promising a strong result with international and festival potential. The script returns to the former Czechoslovakia when numerous villages were flooded due to the construction of dams. The basic motif of the expulsion of the Ruthenian community is expanded into a generational conflict and, more broadly, into themes of ecological, cultural, religious, or existential crisis. The Council has decided to support the project with the full amount requested, EUR 192,000.

After an unsuccessful application for script development support, the production company Cat and chips applied for the production support of the feature film Luigi by writer-directors Eliška Kováříková and Adam Struhala (The Glory of Terrible Eliz), who are acting as the producers as well. The Council recognized a shift in the script from a portrait of Luigi, representing the millennial generation, to a colorful metaphor of European society, with situational humor, depicting the unique atmosphere of the Sardinian canyon. The filmmakers are aware of the difficulties of filming in Sardinia and prepared for it, both production-wise and creatively. The project was supported with EUR 140,000.

The 2023 call for short film production support generated 17 applications, more than double the number of applications received in the last year's call. The Czech Film Fund's Council supported five projects, three of which received the full amount of funding requested; two films were supported at a reduced level. The entire call allocation was exhausted.

Student films and projects by up-and-coming filmmakers clearly dominated the applications. One of the exceptions, however, was endorfilm's project When We Were Sleeping (Když jsme spali) by established feature film director Olmo Omerzu (Bird Atlas, Winter Flies), which received the highest grant of EUR 34,000. The psychological drama about the first sexual experiences of
the main characters depicts not only love and sexual adventures, but also the darker side of growing up – manipulation and
the theme of rape and violence in general.

The second highest grant (EUR 25,200) was awarded to MasterFilm's project Don't Light My Fire. The satirical comedy is an imaginative and original debut by David Payne and Tomáš Navrátil, who humorously work with the current cocktail of global ecological issues in a well-chosen genre of mockumentary. The project participated at KVIFF Talents – Creative Pool 2022.

MasterFilm managed to get support for another project under its production. The Deal (Kšeft), written and directed by acclaimed documentarist Šimon Šafránek (Meky, King Skate), was awarded EUR 18,000. Building on a believable, sober characterization of characters and settings, this short film captures a certain fleeting quality of youth.

Kuli Film received the support of EUR 22,800 for its 15-minute fiction project The Price of a Story (Cena příběhu) by debuting director Lukáš Masner, about an encounter between a Czech tourist and a Greenlandic shaman. This is the first ever Czech-Greenlandic co-production.

Another rewarded project First Patrol directed by Vojtěch Konečný and produced by nukleon frame is conceived as a short genre variant of police thrillers, in this case motivated by a specific event, a mass murder of 8 people in Uherský Brod in 2015. The Council awarded the project with EUR 20,000.