At the Awards Ceremony for the 19th CinEast Festival (Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg, 9-25 October 2026) held on Saturday 24 October at Kinepolis Kirchberg, the International Jury awarded the Grand Prix to Dua by Blerta Basholli and the Special Jury Prize to Tell Me What You Feel by Łukasz Ronduda. The Jury also decided to give a Special Mention to the film Only the Beautiful Things To Look At by Ivan Ostrochoský. The Critics' Prize, awarded by the Press Jury, went to Shame and Money by Visar Morina. The Young Talents Award went to I Matter by Alina Şerban. Finally, the Audience Award for Best Feature Film went to In Hell with Ivo by Kristina Nikolova. Photos from the Ceremony.

The CinEast 2026 Opening night on 14 October, with the screening of Fatherland by Paweł Pawlikowski at Kinepolis Kirchberg, was a great success with over 600 spectators, warmly received by our audience. A selection of photos and video from the evening is available on our Facebook page: photos, video.

Astra 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.

  • 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).
Dear EPI community,

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

The following production grants were announced by the Film Centre of Montenegro on 20 October 2026.

In 2026, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) will present a strong selection of documentaries in its two competition programmes with Doc@PÖFF International showcasing 11 world premieres from around the globe. In addition to the documentary programmes, the festival also announced its lineup of Special Screenings.

Find out more about our calls for submissions!

LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT OUR

WORKS IN PROGRESS SECTIONS

The sixth edition of Series Rough Pitch - The Balkan Way will take place online on 30 October 2026, once again bringing fresh, original TV series projects in development before leading European industry experts.

Submissions for the 26th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival are now open! The festival will take place between 11th and 21st of June 2027 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with submissions accepted until February 1st 2027. Submissions are made online through the Eventival platform. Producers, sales agents and distributors holding the film’s screening rights can submit their films online via Eventival.