Who are the winners of Astra Film Festival 2026? Vlad Petri wins Best Documentary in the Romania Competition
Festivals 25-10-2026Astra Film Festival, Romania’s leading international documentary film festival, has announced the winners of its 2026 edition. Among the award-winning films is A Train Passes Every Day and It Never Stops, by Vlad Petri, the major winner in the Romania Competition. In its 33rd year, the Sibiu festival has recognised films exploring family relationships, memory, belonging, the relationship with the past, and the ways people seek their place in a changing world. Although AFF2026 comes to a close today, the festival continues online. Details: https://astrafilm.ro/festival/online.
MPM Premium Picks Up Cătălin Mitulescu’s Indian Summer Ahead of Its World Premiere
Romania 25-10-2026BUCHAREST: Paris-based sales agent MPM Premium has acquired Romanian director/writer/producer Cătălin Mitulescu’s fifth feature film, Indian Summer / Vara indiană, which has just been finished.
ZAGREB: The 3rd edition of the BLEND: Film & Games conference took place on 23 and 24 October 2026 at the Algebra Bernays University in Zagreb, focusing on how film, television, and video games increasingly merge to build unified creative worlds.
Industry@Shorts: Masterclasses, Panels and Speed-Friending for Emerging Filmmakers at Tallinn Black Nights
Festivals 23-10-2026- Industry@Shorts, the rebranded industry arm of PÖFF Shorts, will take place from November 13–14, 2026.
- The two-day event aligns with the Baltic focus running throughout the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).
Autumn is in full swing, and this issue brings plenty of new faces. We introduce the 15 professionals of the fifth AUDIOVISUAL WOMEN cohort, who head to Tallinn next month, and welcome MovieLedger as a new partner of our European Film Business and Law programme. Looking ahead, our online seminar AI in Film and TV: A Legal Update gets you up to speed on copyright, data protection and the EU AI Act. And we look back on three inspiring days of IP Development for Creative Professionals in Potsdam as well as Clearing Rights for Film & TV in Berlin.
The EPI team
PODGORICA: The Film Centre of Montenegro has distributed 1,302,000 EUR as production grants for 22 projects including feature films, long documentaries, minority coproductions, and films already in production.
The following production grants were announced by the Film Centre of Montenegro on 20 October 2026.
International Screen Institute – Interview with Kira Ruohonen, Alumna of the Sustainability Management Programme
Region 22-10-2026VIENNA: FNE spoke with Kira Ruohonen about her experience with the Sustainability Management programme of the International Screen Institute and how this programme influenced the way she approaches work today.
BUCHAREST: Ioana Ruxandra Victoria Ciocan was officially invested as the new Minister of Culture of Romania on 20 October 2026 as the new PM’s Luca Niculescu’s Cabinet received the parliamentary vote of confidence and was officially sworn in by the President Nicusor Dan.
RIGA: Eleven projects are pitched at the RIGA IFF SHOWCASE, which is held from 23 to 25 October 2025 within the RIGA IFF FORUM of the 13th Riga International Film Festival.
