FORUM: Children’s & youth film project pitching session

The Pack

Production company: 8Heads Productions
Genre: Drama, youth film
Countries: Czech Republic, Latvia
Estimated run time (min): 90
Director: Tomáš Polenský
Producers: Julietta Sichel, Jan Froněk, Guntis Trekteris
Stage of the project: Development
Estimated date of the project: 03/02/2020
Looking for: Co-production, Sales agents, Broadcasters, Festivals, Funding
Target audience: 14+

Logline

David, a sixteen-year-old hockey goalie freshly diagnosed with diabetes, joins a new team – one governed by the uncompromising law of the pack. Desperately, David tries to stand his ground against an avalanche of bullying that soon begins to gain speed.

About the director

Tomáš Polenský (1987) studied film direction at the Film School in Zlin and then took his MA at FAMU. Despite the short filmography he has received numerous awards for his work. Besides directing his own films, he edits films by his colleagues and acts as DOP of feature films, documentaries, music and commercial spots. He is currently finishing feature-length documentary “Instrument of War” dealing with psychology of a soldier. Tomáš knows the environment depicted in The Pack more than well: his sister is the captain of the Czech Republic women’s national ice hockey team; Tomáš himself spent 16 years playing minor and junior hockey, and even acted as a youth coach for several seasons. Tomáš aims to base his approach to making The Pack on his experience with documentary films, striving for a raw style with a focus on the expressive depiction of the main character’s feelings.

About the production company

8Heads Productions was established in 2010 in order to produce author-based projects in close creative co-operation between writer, director and producer. The founder of the company, Julietta Sichel, is a former Program Director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and an experienced film producer with several successful international co-productions in her record. When choosing her projects, Sichel relies on her more than 20 years of experience from international film scene. Sichel focuses on films with international potential and with chances of success at the leading world film festivals. Films produced or co-produced by 8Heads Productions were presented at numerous festivals around the world including Montreal, Karlovy Vary, Tallinn, Busan, Chicago, Jeonju, Teheran, Raindance, Sarajevo, Kiev, Jihlava Documentary Film Festival, ZagrebDox, Houston and many others.