FilmNewEurope.com

LJUBLJANA: The Slovenian Parliament voted yesterday, 27 September 2016, on vital changes to Slovenian film legislation that introduce a cash rebate scheme for foreign producers filming in Slovenia and make changes to legislation governing the funding of the Slovenian Film Center (SFC).

SOFIA: Escobar, a Spanish/Bulgarian European coproduction starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, and directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, will start shooting in Columbia on 24 October 2016.

LIMASSOL: The 6th International Short Film Festival of Cyprus will take place in Limassol from 15 to 21 October 2016. The festival will screen dozens of short films in the genres of fiction, documentary, experimental and animation, from Cyprus and abroad.

BRATISLAVA: Marko Škop’s debut feature Eva Nová is Slovakia's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards.

RIGA: Laila Pakalniņa's Dawn / Ausma is Latvia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards.

FNE TV talked to Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski about his lifetime achievement award in Venice, Boban Jevtic the head of the Serbian Film Centre about Emir Kusturica’s eagerly anticipated On the Milky Road, which screened in the main competition, and asked Sofia Film Festival helmers Stefan Kitanov and Mira Staleva to tell FNE how a meeting in Venice with directors Peter Brosens and Jessica Woolworth three years ago led to a Bulgarian/Belgian coproduction King of the Belgians premiering in the Venice Orizzonti.

BRATISLAVA: Eva Nová by Marko Škop won the IGRIC Award for best feature film of 2015. The ceremony of the Slovak Film Union, Literary Fund and Union of Slovak Television Creators - IGRIC awards for best Slovak films in 2015 was held in Bratislava´s Malá scéna on 22 September 2016.

BATUMI: Zoology by Ivan I.Tverdovskiy won the Grand Prix in the feature film competition of the 11th Batumi International Art house Film Festival (BIAFF), taking place from 18 to 25 September 2016.

PAPHOS: Marc Lahore’s debut feature The Open won the 11th Cyprus International Film Festival, which came to a close on 25 September 2016 after 13 days of international feature, short, animated and documentary film screenings from 37 countries.

TALLINN: Zero Point by Estonian director Mihkel Ulk will be released in Autumn 2016 by VoD distributor Under the Milky Way in all territories of the European Union, subtitled in 24 official languages through the Creative Europe supported Working (Sub) Title action.

GDYNIA: The main prize of the 41st Gdynia Film Festival went to The Last Family directed by Jan P. Matuszyński. The film’s star Andrzej Seweryn also won the prize for best actor.

VARNA: Ralitza Petrova’s debut feature Godless won the Golden Rose Award of the 34th Golden Rose National Film Festival (19 to 25 of September 2016). Ralitza Petrova was also awarded best director, while Irena Ivanova was awarded best actress.

ZAGREB: The Croatian Audiovisual Centre approved 556,730 EUR / 4,178,000 HRK for minority coproductions and animated films on 23 September 2016.