PRAGUE: Czech TV’s new Art Channel has reached an audience share of 0.59% as it marks six months since its launch, putting it on a par with cultural channels elsewhere in Europe.
SOFIA: The 18th Sofia International Film Fest will screen 34 Bulgarian films including ten supported by the Bulgarian NFC and the rest of the production mostly privately financed.
ZAGREB: Nebojša Slijepčević’s documentary Gangster of Love, a coproduction between Croatia, Germany and Romania, sold 6,664 tickets domestically in the first four weeks including 5,000 tickets in the first two weeks, a success for a domestic documentary.
TBLISIS: The Georgian National Film Center and EAVE have announced a call for applications for developing Georgian film projects and scripts.
ZAGREB: A Christmas in the Sun is a Swedish production with Croatian service provider Kinorama, began shooting 24 February and is set to premiere 1 December on Swedish public channel SVT1.
BUCHAREST: After more than two years in development, the premiere feature of Vlad Păunescu, owner and CEO of Castel Film Studios, will start filming 14 April.
WARSAW: Polish private broadcaster Polsat is betting on success with adapting a culinary reality TV format from New Zealand, with shooting set for 5 March.
Documentary development organization East Doc Platform is betting on seven surprisingly diverse "socio-eco-politically oriented" projects, presenting them today at Prague's Cervantes Institute in the context of the One World festival.
WARSAW: A spy thriller from Władysław Pasikowski is set to be the first film hitting a million in Polish admissions for 2014, surpassing big international titles.
PRAGUE: The 21st edition of the city's biggest film gala, Febiofest, running 20-28 March in the Cinestar Andel multiplex, has announced its program, encompassing 141 films from 60 countries. In addition to the usual screenings, art complex MeetFactory will be hosting a film by French animator and director Sylvain Chomet, who will introduce The Illusionist (2010) 26 March.
VALLETTA: Leading production company U-Film, a 15-year veteran of films shot in and around Malta, has rebranded from its previous iteration, Film Corporation.
BUCHAREST: A new culture minister, Kelemen Hunor, has pledged his support for increasing the number of cinemas in Romania, a perennial issue for the film industry after many were taken off line following the fall of the Iron Curtain.
This month we are presenting the only film club in Paris showing Central and Eastern European films and we speak with Marketa Hodouskova, one of its founders.
