First Cut+ selects a portfolio of 16 feature films to be promoted each year: 8 films during the winter session at Trieste’s When East Meets West, and 8 films during the summer session at Karlovy Vary IFF’s Eastern Promises Industry Days.

Participating projects benefit from lectures and individual mentoring consultations on promotion, marketing, PR & press, festivals, and sales strategy from various film industry consultants. This is followed by a works-in-progress organized under the ‘First Cut+’ label, open to selected decision makers (sales agents & distributors, festivals’ programmers, etc). At each session, a jury awards the TRT Prize to one of the films – a cash award of 5,000 Euros sponsored by the Turkish public broadcaster.

Amongst the 56 feature films that have already participated over 3 years, previous First Cut+ projects include: Listen by Ana Rocha de Sousa (Lion of the Future for Best Debut Feature, Venice 2020); Immaculate by Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark (Lion of the Future for Best Debut Feature, Venice 2021); A Piece of Sky by Michael Koch (Silver Bear - Special Mention, Berlinale 2022); The Maiden by Graham Foy (Cinema of the Future Award, Venice 2022); Levante by Lillah Halla (FIPRESCI Award, Cannes 2023).

You may find more information on the First Cut+ website here, and on the First Cut Lab here.