The European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, has announced that Bulgaria will take over its annually rotating Presidency for 2013. Bulgaria is represented in the Observatory’s Executive Council by Irina Kanousheva, responsible for International Relations, Festivals and Promotion at the Bulgarian National Film Center.

VILNIUS: Lithuania saw advertising on TV and in cinemas rise substantially in 2012, contrasting with a steep decline in print advertising.

Organized by the Ankara Cinema Association with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the 18th Festival on Wheels completed another film-packed expedition on 10th December. This year’s travels began on 30th November in Ankara before taking in the Black Sea town of Sinop.

TALLINN: Mushrooming and Varesesaar Russians tied for the Film of the Year award given out for the 20th time by the Estonian Association of Film Journalists on 8 January 2013.

PRAGUE: Czech film, TV and stage actress Jiřina Jirásková died 7 January 2013 at age 81.

The 11th IFF Cyprus Film Days is accepting submissions for the international competition Glocal Images through 8 February 2013.

The European Film Academy Young Audience Award, first introduced in 2012 on occasion of the 25th European Film Awards, will be presented this year in the framework of a Young Audience Film Day on Sunday, 5 May.

PRAGUE: David Ondříček’s 1950’s drama Ve Stinu (In the Shadow) and Bohdan Sláma’s contemporary dark comedy Čtyři slunce (Four Suns) dominated the nominations for the Czech Film Critics Awards, which take place 26 January 2013.

STRASBOURG: Coproductions from Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Poland are among 17 films selected for Eurimages funding during the December 2012 meeting.

With six full-length fictional, three documentary and two medium-long fictional films, new German directorial talents are making a strong showing with distinctive works in Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2013. Their films revolve around exploring the past, natural catastrophes, starting a family, separations – around love and lost. “Parting, for instance, from home or a loved one seems to preoccupy the next generation most of all. Sometimes the exploration is painful, at other times festive, but at all times these young filmmakers find a stirring cinematic translation,” remarks Section Director Linda Söffker about this year’s selection.