WHAT IF Films

WHAT IF Films was born from the creative collaboration of Daniel Rihák and Martina Sakova. Our ambition is to develop and produce films and media solutions that combine audience reach with a social-critical message. We work with filmmakers and creatives who have a unique style and offer fresh, unconventional solutions. We love genre films and aim to make films that appeal to audiences. We aspire to entertain them in a way that will leave them hopeful and inspired to think about the world.

Our current film projects include MY WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, LOVEBOTS and GOLD DIGGER. Both creative producers and directors, Daniel Rihák and Martina Saková, have an established track record. Daniel Rihák's graduate film "The Trip" was shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Film Awards, won the IGRIC Creative Award for Best Director and won the Best Feature Film Award at the Áčko film Festival. The film was shown at numerous film festivals (Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, Tirana International Short Film Festival, Euroshorts Young Filmmakers, Gdansk, PiterKit International Student Film Festival, St. Petersburg and others). Martina's films include the feature-length documentary "Little Hanoi", a German-Slovak-Czech co-production with HBO Europe, the documentary "Neighbours" for Czech and Slovak television, the fiction film "Operation Neptune" by Czech director A. Babanova or the documentary "Child Boxers" by Ghanaian director M. Zimrani, which was supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund and the Sundance Film Fund. Her feature film "Summer Rebels" was realised as a German-Slovak co-production thanks to Creative Europe Media, BKM, AVF, DFFF and KjdF. The film was screened in competition at over 30 film festivals worldwide, distributed to theatres in Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and commercially exploited by NETFLIX, AMAZON, APPLE TV, PRIME, RTVS, NPO in numerous countries. Rebels was pre-selected for the German Film Award, won the German Film Critics Award 2021 and the Audience Award at the Festival Nuovo Cinema Europa. Her new film Lovebots was pre-nominated for the German Script Award 2024.

Daniel Rihák was born in Prešov and studied cinematography at ESTC in Lisbon, Portugal, and graduated in film directing at VŠMU Bratislava. His short film THE TRIP was shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Film Awards. Daniel has wide experience directing commercials and television series for broadcasters such as TV Nova and the streaming platform VOYO.

Martina Sakova was born in Bratislava and studied film directing at VŠMU Bratislava, HFF Babelsberg, and the University of Arts in Berlin. She is experienced in various formats ranging from animated shorts and long-term documentaries to features and cross-disciplinary projects, and is currently studying AI & Societies at the Media University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.

Lýdia Tomšu was born in Bratislava and holds a Master's degree in Cultural Studies from Comenius University. With over 10 years of experience in both domestic and international productions, she has worked as a production manager, line producer, and 1st AD on projects such as Red Sparrow, Van Helsing, and Afterburn. She now strengthens the WIF team as the Head of Production.

Martin Drgoň holds a Master of Arts in Production from VŠMU Bratislava. An experienced production manager and executive producer across film, TV, and animation, his credits include Anestéza, Niekedy v Európe, or Neobyčajné príbehy z mesta Mindcery. He brings his expertise in complex, international production management to WIF as the Head of Production and Development.