The Bulgarian telecom company Vivacom will begin digital transmission on September 1, the company announced.

VENICE: Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing staring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner will screen in the main competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.  The film is produced by Skopia Film of Poland (www.skopiafilm.com) with backing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and Canal+Cyfrowy and coproduced by Hungary's Mythberg Films (www.mythbergfilms.hu) together with Ireland's Element Pictures and Cylinger Productions of Norway and backing from Eurimages. Hanway Films is handling international sales.

The Romanian Government has cancelled a tender for the first two digital multiplexes and postponed the crossover to the digital terestrial TV by three years, from January 1, 2012 to January 1, 2015.

Croatian distributor Martin Milinkovic has been chosen to participate in European Film Promotion's (www.efp-online.com) Up Next! presentation on September 20 and 21 at the San Sebastian film festival. 

"Riga Virus: Training for Emerging Cinema Professionals" will be launched in September 2010, gathering 20 participants (10 film projects) from the Baltic States, Armenia and Georgia. The participants of the training will be offered an intensive four-day programme consisting of script development and film marketing workshops, lectures, case studies and a pitch session.

The National Audiovisual Council of Romania (www.cna.ro) has granted a satellite license to Valtec Media Broadcasting SRL for a new Agro Channel to be broadcast in Romania and possibly in Moldova. The channel will begin broadcasting at the end of 2010.

Lithuanian TV channel TV3 (www.tv3.lt) has been sued over a Mrs. Universe contest held on August 21. The Miss Universe Organization in the U.S. filed a lawsuit on August 24 citing copyright violation.

At least ten Romanian films are expected to open in local cinemas by the end of 2010. Distributors are still juggling schedules looking for their best release dates.

Womb, from Hungarian writer/director Benedek Fliegauf, has been picked up for distribution in North America by Olive Film. World sales agent Match Factory (www.the-match-factory.com) announced that the film will have its North American premiere on September 14 at the Toronto Film Festival.

The Slovak minister of culture and tourism, Daniel Krajcer, has announced plans to change the financing of Slovak public TV (www.stv.sk ) and radio, according to a report in Slovak publication The Daily.

Jan Jakub Kolski's Venice has been selected for the main competition at the Montreal Film Festival, where the Polish film will have its international premiere. The premiere screening will take place on September 1 to mark the outbreak of WW2 which forms the historical background of the movie.

CentEast Market Warsaw-Moscow (www.centeast.eu) is accepting submissions for its 2010 event, held in Warsaw October 15-17 and in Moscow on October 17. Filmmakers with feature films and documentaries for theatrical release from Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine are invited to apply.

An Iranian debut film, Forbidden Love, which is set to film in Turkey will star Polish actress Helena Poplavsky and at least six Turkish actors.

Five debut films and another ten feature films are among the recipients of the latest round of Romanian grants.

The Czech tax incentives system has attracted a big-budget french-german coproduction to Prague's Barrandov studios. The Borgias, a 12 episode Tv series based on the 15th century italian aristocratic family, is planning a 10 month shootthrough May 2011, ŠtÄ›pán ÄŒervený of Barrandov Studios (www.barrandov.cz) confirmed.

Distribution is the weakest point of the Hungarian film industry - says the new president of the Hungarian Motion Picture Foundation in his interview. Instead of 25-31 films per year only 15 will be financed by the state but - hopefully - under better conditions.

Marian CriÅŸan's first feature, recipient of four prizes at Locarno will be distributed in Switzerland by Secondo Film GmbH (www.secondofilm.com) and in France by Les Films du Losange (www.filmsdulosange.fr).