Building on last year's pact to co-produce a Spies in Warsaw together, the BBC and Polish pubcaster TVP have signed a deal with Apple Film Production in Poland for a major new WWI drama, The Passing Bells from award-winning writer Tony Jordan (EastEnders, Hustle, Life on Mars) and producer Red Planet Pictures.

Feature filmmakers, documentarians, animators and screenwriters have won sum of 5 411 488 EUR in the latest round of funding from the Polish Film Institute (PISF). Best funded project Nienawiść by Wojciech Smarzowski, produced by Film IT, is a grueling account of wartime massacres in Volhynia. It follows up on his recent hit Traffic Department and was backed to the tune of 958 600 EUR.

Four foreign films in development have won some 400,000 EUR through the co-financing program of the National Film Centre of Latvia, according to the organization. The winning projects scored the backing via a tender process in which non-Latvian productions can be eligible for a cash rebate of up to 25% of film related expenses when shooting is completed.

The Prague-based Institute for Documentary Film has backed scores of projects over the past year through it Ex Oriente, East European Forum and East Silver programs. A dozen, covering a range of subjects from eugenics to broken down highways will screen at the One World fest 3-12 March.

PRAGUE: The third edition of East Doc Platform, a development program run by the Czech Republic's Institute of Documentary Film (IDF), rolls out 3-9 March, coinciding with the One World docu fest and complementing it with intensive sessions for indie filmmakers, producers and professionals.

PRAGUE: The venerated human rights film fest One World, running 3-12 March, has announced a program of provocative films that examine the true costs of work on ordinary people's lives. Its focus sections also examine issues including the right to know, endangered families, journeys to freedom and the power of the media.

BRATISLAVA: The Visegrad Film Forum, set for 11-13 March, has announced it will host Austrian cinematographer Christian Berger, who filled Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon (2009) for a day-long lecture.

SOFIA: Action film star Pierce Brosnan, known for his roles as super agent 007, is shooting parts of the $35 million suspense film Survivor in Bulgaria, according to broadcast news source RadioTimes.

TBILISI: The Georgian National Film Center has announced the first joint public-private partnership in film funding, aimed at supporting exceptional local film production. TBC Bank will contribute to the financing of documentary and short film projects on a competitive basis this year.