Eventival was founded in November 2008 by Adrian Johnson, Tomáš Prášek and Dawna Cha. But its roots reach back to 2000, when a small software company in Prague began developing what would become one of the first internationally adopted film festival management systems.

2000: The beginnings of DataKal

In 2000, Tomáš Prášek, then Guest Services Manager at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, joined forces with software developer Pavel Kalenda to establish DataKal. Building on a system originally developed for KVIFF, their goal was to create software that could help other festivals manage the increasingly complex demands of international event production. The inaugural Bergen International Film Festival in Norway became their first international client, followed by Finale Plzeň and the Pusan International Film Festival (now Busan IFF). The collaboration with PIFF led to a substantial redesign of the software and its operational workflows, establishing an approach that would continue to shape its development: learning directly from the organizations using it. Over the following years, DataKal expanded to more than twenty major international festivals, including Bergen, Busan, Thessaloniki, Udine, Tribeca, Mar del Plata, Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Goa. Each collaboration brought new requirements, ideas and practical experience. Together, they created an extensive body of knowledge about festival operations that would later become the foundation of Eventival.

2008: The founding of Eventival

The idea for Eventival emerged from a conversation between Tomáš Prášek and British entrepreneur and software developer Adrian Johnson (whom he had met in 2004 while working on a festival management project for the Berlinale) in September 2008 while discussing the possibility of bringing the experience accumulated through DataKal into a new, entirely web-based platform. They were joined by Dawna Cha who brought five years of experience managing MOFFOM (Music on Film – Film on Music), an international festival founded by producer John Caulkins. The three founders established Eventival Ltd. in November 2008 near Fontainebleau, France, combining expertise in software development with extensive practical experience in international film and music festivals. The original concept was straightforward: to make professional festival management technology more accessible, easier to use and better suited to the changing needs of cultural organizations.

2009: From concept to international platform

Eventival attracted considerable attention even before its official launch. During the 2009 Berlinale, more than fifty festivals expressed interest in the new platform, with organizations including AFI FEST, Ventana Sur, Bergen IFF, Giffoni Film Festival and the Toronto IFF among its early adopters, and the first implementation took place at the Giffoni Film Festival in July 2009. The strong initial demand made it clear that the project needed a larger development team and a more substantial organizational structure. Later that year, Eventival established its base in Prague, where a dedicated team of developers began expanding the platform’s capabilities. What had initially been conceived as a lighter alternative to traditional festival management software soon evolved into a comprehensive system capable of supporting the full complexity of major international festivals.

2009: Today: Beyond film festivals

Since its first deployment, Eventival has supported more than 1,500 editions of festivals and other events worldwide, becoming an established technology partner for organizations across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Over time, the platform has expanded beyond its original market. Today, Eventival is used by film festivals and markets, film centers, professional associations, film schools, awards, theater festivals and networks, literary events and other organizations across the creative industries. This evolution has been driven by a simple realization: organizations working in different creative fields often face remarkably similar challenges. They need to manage people, companies, creative works, projects and events, coordinate complex activities, maintain relationships and preserve knowledge from one year to the next. The technology has changed enormously since the early days of DataKal. The principle behind it has not.

Eventival continues to build on decades of practical experience, helping creative organizations bring their people, information and activities together in one connected environment – so they can focus less on administration and more on the communities and experiences they create.

Dozens of people have contributed their ideas, skills and deditation to the creation of Eventival since the time the company was founded near Fontainebleau in 2008, We immensely appreciate the support and patience of all the festival organisers who trusted us when this unique and unusual company was merely an ambitious idea.