First Cut+ was launched in 2020 to enhance the promotion and audience engagement strategies of feature films that have previously participated in a First Cut Lab.
The program serves as a vital stepping stone for emerging filmmakers, providing tailored support to maximize their films’ visibility and impact on the global stage, with a focus on marketing, distribution, audience engagement, and sales strategies. Participants work together with unique, international experts from the fields of marketing, sales, publicity and editing.
Since its launch, First Cut+ has supported 96 feature films, many of which have gained significant critical acclaim and prestigious awards.
In 2026, a new partnership with the Munich Film Festival was initiated and FC+ Munich 2026 was launched. For this inaugural edition, participating projects benefit from lectures and individual mentoring consultations on promotion, marketing, PR & press, festivals, and sales strategy from various film industry consultants.
Among this edition’s selection, Half of the projects will be debut feature films. One of them will be a hybrid documentary feature film. We are proud to host the projects from Cameroon, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ivory Coast, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
First Cut+ is a program proudly initiated by Tatino Films in collaboration with the Munich International Film Festival.
6 SELECTED PROJECTS
For this 2026 session, First Cut+ selected the following six projects:
I’m Coming for You
Director: Cyrielle Raingou
Producers: Je Capture Ma Réalité (Cameroon), Artisans du Film (France), Seera Films (Germany) On Est Ensemble (Ivory Coast)
Kaltoumi, a young mother , loves riding her customized motorbike in the Sahel. Punished for dealing with terrorists she was forced into, she fights to reclaim her child with a group of women living on their own terms. A film about women facing two vicious enemies : terrorism and the patriarchy.
Lightness and Weight
Director: Erec Brehmer
Producers: Maverick Film (Germany)
After a devastating car accident, Lukas and Nora are drawn together by an unexpected turn of event. As past and present intertwine, both of them a caught inbetween their affection for each other and the love for the person they can’t let go.
Lost Years
Director: Aron Horváth Botka
Producers: Temporama (Slovenia), Set Sail Films (Serbia)
In the final summer of the 90s, a shy store clerk leaves his Serbian village for the first time to help a backpacker chase after her lost luggage, drifting through endless fields and strange nights that awaken in him a longing for a different life.
My Letter to B
Director: Helen Beltrame-Linné
Producers: Cinemascópio (Brazil), O Par (Brazil)
One winter day on the island of Fårö, a 24-year-old filmmaker knocks on Ingmar Bergman’s door with a letter, and they sit down for an unexpected conversation. Twenty years later, she returns to the island on a journey through memory and fiction to find out how Bergman’s words have shaped her life.
Sants
Director: Mikel Gurrea
Producers: Nocturna Pictures (Spain), Kino Produzioni (Italy)
While dealing with the impending death of her mother, Lali joins an underground gang specialising in stealing statues of saints from churches and cathedrals.
Wild Horse in the Rotten West
Director: Mina Mileva & Vesela Kazakova
Producers: Activist38 (Bulgaria) , MK38 (United Kingdom), Loco Films (France)
Jerome arrives in London carrying languages and a way of thinking that belongs to no ideology. Briefly popular, briefly powerful, he gets caught up in his new friends’ language of justice. Beneath the noise of culture wars, a Russian oligarch quietly purchases the institution – welcomed as progress. Jerome becomes a whistleblower. Nobody listens.
ADVISORS
Advisors for the 2026 session will be:
Boris Pugnet
As a student, I managed a small cinema, which sparked my passion for film distribution. Over the past 25 years, I’ve released more than 250 films, primarily working with French independent distribution companies like Le Pacte (as Head of Marketing) and The Jokers (as Head of Distribution). I’ve also participated in numerous workshops across Europe, including First Cut and EAVE. More recently, I began collaborating with Heylight, a Chinese company, to distribute and sell Chinese films globally. Additionally, I edit trailers and offer marketing consultancy through my company, Space Odyssey.
Catalin Cristuțiu
The Romanian editor Catalin Cristuțiu, who worked on some of the most appreciated films in Romanian Cinema (directed by, among others, Radu Jude, Florin Serban, Silviu Purcarete, Anca Damian) will be advising about what excerpts to choose for the best launching of the film.
Wendy Mitchell
Wendy Mitchell is a journalist, moderator and film festival consultant. She is a contributing editor at Screen International (where she previously served as editor in chief) and is the editor of the European Film Academy’s Close-up magazine. She is a delegate for the San Sebastian International Film Festival, a consultant for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Zurich Film Festival and Zurich Summit, Connext by Flanders Image, Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision. She also serves as a speaker/mentor at the ICO’s Developing Your Film Festival course and EAVE’s Marketing Workshop. In the US, she previously worked on staff at Entertainment Weekly, indieWIRE, Time Inc and Rolling Stone.
Michael Arnon
As Strategy consultant to International Marketing, PR & Press.
Michael Aron, partner at Berlin based PR & Marketing agency WOLF Consultants, provides full service strategic consulting focused on positioning projects at any and all stages of development and production.
Christina Pelekani
As a marketing and positioning strategy colsultant, Christina is an experienced film industry professional, who has started working in the film business as a creative director in films’ campaigns, marketing manager & acquisitions’ consultant.
In 2020, Christina co-founded Endorphin Film Sales, a boutique world sales & consulting company, where she is responsible for the marketing consulting and acquisitions.
Katarzyna Siniarska
As Sales specialist.
Katarzyna Siniarska has been a part of Warsaw-based boutique world sales agency New Europe Film Sales since 2013; first as a Sales Executive then Head of Sales and a partner at the company. She is also active as a board member of Europa International (2019-2021). New Europe works with international content and sells it to all rights, theatrical, TV and VOD buyers across the world and is proud of its small, carefully-selected catalogue of feature films and shorts. The company has a great track record for supporting auteur cinema and unique voices – recent titles include 92nd Academy Awards nominated CORPUS CHRISTI and Venezia 77 Best Screenplay winner THE DISCIPLE.
Joanna Solecka
As Digital marketing specialist.
Film marketing and audience design strategist, Joanna Solecka is the Head of film marketing agency Alphapanda’s Polish branch, covering the CEE, US and Scandinavian market. Among the latest international projects, Joanna handled campaigns for are: GIRL PICTURE (Sundance Audience Award Winner ‘22), HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND (Visions du Reel ’22), FLEE (European Film Awards Winner ’21), NINJABABY (SXSW Audience Award Winner ’21).
CO-ORGANIZER
