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Audiovisual Centre

Our projects

About the project

In 2021, we established the Centre for Innovation and Cultivation of the Audiovisual Environment, which operated until 2022 with support from the EEA and Norway Grants. In 2023, the project was renamed the Audiovisual Centre, which remained active until the end of 2025.

The Audiovisual Centre was based at Kino Kavalírka and served as an open platform for professionals in the fields of film and video games, critics, and the general public. It offered guidance in the ever-changing audiovisual industry and created a space for sharing experiences, reflecting on current trends, and connecting individual actors across disciplines.

The centre’s program included workshops, lectures, conferences, networking events, and informal meetings.

The Audiovisual Centre (AVC) focused primarily on the following themes:

  • strengthening professional networks, associations, and platforms

  • supporting women and marginalized groups in the audiovisual industry

  • short-form production and debuts

  • production for children and youth

  • audiovisual education (film, new media, video games)

  • connecting the film and video game industries

 

Networking and professional meetings

An important part of the AVC programme was networking events, which fostered the sharing of experiences and the formation of new collaborations.

We held regular events such as:

  • Industry Night – a meeting of representatives from a wide range of Czech audiovisual associations and platforms, focusing on topics such as data collection and analysis or well-being in the film industry

  • Speed Networking – a format designed for quick and effective networking among film industry professionals across different fields

  • Industry brunches – informal discussions on specific audiovisual topics

Industry brunches focused, for example, on television dramaturgy, experimental film, the sustainability of film festivals, contemporary television production, or sales. 

Guests included, for example: Tomáš Feřtek, Michal Reitler, Michaela Čajková, Tereza Nvotová, Julie Marková Žáčková a Dagmar Sedláčková.

 

Workshops, lectures, and education

The Audiovisual Centre carried out a wide range of educational activities in collaboration with Czech and international partners.

We have long collaborated with platforms and institutions such as film-animation-theory, Girls in Film, the Czech Association of Cinema Operators, Nové kino, or the Association for Film and Audiovisual Education.

As part of the international FilmED project, we organized a showcase of workshops by the project’s partners (Goethe-Institut, Wajda Film Centre, krutón, National Film Institute – Hungarian National Film Archive, Kino Úsmev, or Kinoteka) during their first official meeting. 

We also organized specialized workshops for students at FAMU and the Department of Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, focusing on topics such as:

  • sales and distribution (Daniel Vadocký)

  • the history and methodology of video games (in collaboration with the Game Archive)

  • creating introductory lectures for films (David Havas a Viktor Licek)

  • writing about short films (Pavel Sladký)

  • audience design (Ewa Bojanowska)

The programme also included regular meetups of the film-animation-theory platform.

 

International collaboration, research, and data

The Audiovisual Centre systematically presented current European approaches in the fields of audiovisual education, audience engagement, and data utilization.

Guests included, for example:

  • Anne Schultka (KIDS Regio)

  • Eveline van Stuijvenberg (Film Education Network in the Netherlands & Filmhub Zuid-Holland)

  • Malin Nygren (Swedish Film Institute)

 

An important part of the programme was also the topic of women’s representation in audiovisual media.

Tereza Czesany Dvořáková presented the preliminary results of a study by the Czech Audiovisual Producers's Association focusing on the status of women in the Czech film industry. Subsequently, together with the research team from Carl Data Company, she presented the findings of a follow-up three-year study on the representation and attitudes of women in key film professions in Czech feature-length fiction films.

The programme was also attended by Gilles Fontaine (Head of the Department for Market Information, European Audiovisual Observatory), who presented a long-term survey of the situation of female filmmakers in Europe.

Petra Průšová presented the key findings of the Kantar 2024 study for the Czech Audiovisual Producers's Association, which analyzes the Czech population’s relationship to audiovisual content and leisure activities.

The programme also included a live recording of the Pitch podcast with guests:

  • Daniel Vadocký (sales agent)

  • Michal Šašek (former Deputy Minister of Culture)

  • Heleen Rouw (former director of the Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam)

  • David Čeněk (dean of FAMU)

 

Collaboration with festivals and industry programmes

The Audiovisual Centre was an active participant in a number of film festivals and their industry programmes.

A significant outcome of the Audiovisual Centre’s activities was the International Forum for Audiovisual Education, organized in collaboration with Young Film Fest. It was the largest industry program focused on audiovisual education in the Czech Republic, bringing together key European players in this field.

Guests included:

Heleen Rouw (Cinekid), Samira Jakobi (Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum), Anne Schultka (KIDS Regio), Lisbeth Juhl Sibessen (Danish Film Institute), Eveline van Stuijvenberg (Filmhub Zuid-Holland), Amelie Jennequin (Quai10), Emese Erdös (National Film Institute – Hungarian Film Archive), Karolina Śmigiel (The Wajda Film Centre), Karin Spišáková (Kino Úsmev), Šimon Bauer (Documentary Film Center), Martin Peroutka (Aeroškola) and Tomáš Machek (Sladovna Písek).

 

In collaboration with Young Film Fest, we also presented the current state of the film industry in Ukraine and how it operates during wartime. The discussion featured Sasha Prokopenko, a film programmer and Head of Programming at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival.

 

As part of the Das FilmFest festival, we prepared a programme focused on the female perspective on the film industry in German-speaking countries. Guests included:

  • Heleen Gerritsen (goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film)

  • Marija Milovanovic (LEMONADE FILMS, Vienna Shorts, Berlinale Generation)

  • Nicole Biermeier (First Hand Films)

  • Fiona Ziegler (screenwriter and director)

 

At the FOFR festival, a case study of the film Rites took place with producer Martina Netíková and film journalist Pavel Sladký.

 

As part of the ELBE DOCK International Film Festival, we organized the FILM INN programme, which included workshops for emerging screenwriters and producers from the V4 countries, masterclasses, roundtable discussions, and networking events.

Guests included:

Nicoló Galio (Alphapanda, TorinoFilmLab Audience Design Fund), Anne Gensior (international script consultant), Alexandra Gramatke (Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg), Hrönn Marinósdóttir (Reykjavik International Film Festival), Birgitte Weinberger (OFF – Odense International Film Festival), Liisa Nurmela (Göteborg International Film Festival), Gudrun Sommer (DOXS RUHR), Rebekka Garrido (Manderley Films), Dagmar Sedláčková (Masterfilm, Girls in Film) and Tereza Czesany Dvořáková (FAMU).

 

As part of the BOO International Short Film Festival, we organized:

  • a case study of the award-winning miniseries Monyová with creative producer Klára Follová;

  • an interactive presentation and panel discussion on the topic of intimacy in film with intimacy coordinators Martina Čurdová and Amy Huck and actress Alžběta Malá;

  • a unique format of the interactive International Industry Forum, which featured professionals from across Europe. Ewa Bojanowska (audience designer), Daniel Lundquist (BUFF) and Pantelis Panteloglou (European Children’s Film Association) delivered inspiring keynotes focused on audience design, contemporary Scandinavian youth film, and data on European children’s film. This was followed by an interactive programme in which participants could connect more closely with our guests in smaller groups.

  • The following speakers presented their experiences and projects: Melika Gothe (Berlinale),  Hidde de Vries (Cinekid & Kaptein Kort), Thierry Baujard (Spielfabrique), Sylke de Heus (Eye Filmmuseum), Tessa van Grafhorst (Taartrovers), Jeanette Schjerva (Film i Skåne). The programme was moderated by Barbora Kucsa Prágerová (Metro 70, Czech Association of Cinema Operators).

 

Video games and new media

The Audiovisual Centre has also systematically expanded its focus on video games.

The Summoning Game Design series featured lectures and showcases centered on indie game design, including presentations of projects by students from FAMU, VOŠ Scholastika, and independent developers.

During the Young Film Fest, the programme focused on the use of video games in education, featuring an international guest Marion Decloitre from the gaming department of the Quai10 cinema in Charleroi, Belgium.

The Audiovisual Centre also hosted the final exams for students of FAMU’s Department of Game Design.

 

The AVC was operated by bujón s.r.o. in cooperation with the krutón, z.s. association. The project was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.