SOFIA: A Bulgarian/Croatian/German coproduction, Sofia's Last Ambulance directed by Ilian Metev was presented at the 2011 Doc Launch organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in Jihlava . The documentary follows three ambulance workers struggling to save lives in Sofia's crumbling medical system. The film, which will be released in 52 minute and 85 minute versions, has a budget of 260,000 euros. Metev is the cinematographer as well as directing.

BUCHAREST: The Romanian film director and screenwriter Andrei Blaier died in Bucharest on 1 December 2011. He was 78. After finishing his film studies in Bucharest in 1956, Blaier started directing features, documentaries and TV series. He became famous with his sixth film, The Mornings of a Reasonable Boy/Dimineţile unui băiat cuminte (1967), which remains one of his best films together with Postcards with Wild Flowers/Ilustrate cu flori de câmp (1975) and Through the Ashes of the Empire/Prin cenuşa imperiului (1976)

BUCHAREST: Two years after Police, Adjective/Poliţist, adjectiv won Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Prize in Cannes, Corneliu Porumboiu is writing the script of a new feature A Nine-Minute Interval. He has completed the first draft and is working on the second one. A Nine-Minute Interval/Un interval de nouă minute will focus on Paul, a young film director whose project was blocked for a few years because it wasn't financed. In the meantime, he wrote and re-wrote the script. One day, Magda, his producer, tells him that she found some money but, since she didn't find all the funds, she proposes that he shoot on digital.

Roman Gutek, Polish distributor, exhibitor, and film festival director, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Europa Cinemas (www.europa-cinemas.org). He will be awarded the prize on 18 December 2011 in Warsaw. Gutek was particularly singled out for his management of the two screen arthouse Kino Muranow in Warsaw. 

LJUBLJANA: The 2011 year saw a strong start for the film industry in Slovenia, with the launch of the Slovenian Film Center (SFC; www.film-center.si). The new public agency replaced the Slovenian Film Fund (SFF), the public fund founded in 1994, and established a new film financing and grants system.