FESTIVALS: Era New Horizons opens with Cannes winner
Cannes grand prix winner, Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) by Xavier Beauvois, will make its Polish premiere as the opening film of the Era New Horizons…
Bulgarian National TV names new director
After three days of intense public hearings, the five members of the Council of Electronic Media (www.cem.bg) elected Viara Ankova as Director General of Bulgarian National Television (www.bnt.bg). The vetting…
Eastern Plays wins Bulgarian film awards
The freshly founded Film Academy announced its first annual awards with Eastern Plays (www.easternplays.com) winning film of the year, topping the list of eleven 2009 feature films. The same film…
PRODUCTION: A Very Unsettled Summer in development
A Very Unsettled Summer, a Romanian/Swedish coproduction and the second feature of Romanian director Anca Damian (Crossing Dates), is currently in development. The script is written by the Irish writer…
French historical drama begins filming at Barrandov
After years of decline, the Czech Republic is attracting foreign filmmakers again with its new film tax incentive, approved in June by the European Union. From July through September, the…
PRODUCTION: The Phantom Father in post-production
Lucian Georgescu will finish the post-production of his first feature, The Phantom Father, in September. The editing is completed, and the German composer Johannes Malfatti has worked on the music…
FNE at Script Forum in Warsaw
The third edition of Script Forum, taking place at the Summer Film Festival in Warsaw (www.latofilmow.pl), has awarded three cash prizes. The prizes were given by the Polish Filmmakers Association…
Lietuvos Kinas sale suspended
The planned sale of real estate properties by Lithuanian distribution company Lietuvos Kinas (www.lietuvoskinas.lt) has been suspended by the Ministry of Culture.
PRODUCTION: Something Good From Life in postproduction
Romanian filmmaker Dan Piţa's Something Good from Life, his third film produced by Andrei Boncea and MediaPro Pictures (www.mediapropictures.com), is in post-production until December 2010.
Agnieszka Odorowicz re-elected as PFI Director
Agnieszka Odorowicz has been elected to a second term as Director of the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) . Odorowicz became the first PFI Director in 2005, when the Insitiute was…
mk2 picks up Outbound
French company mk2 (www.mk2.com) will handle the international sales of the first feature made by the young Romanian director Bogdan George Apetri. Outbound (Periferic) will have its world premiere in…
PRODUCTION: Nagy lands lead in Paw
Hungarian actor Ervin Nagy (Chameleon) will play the main role in Robert Pejó's new feature, Paw (Mancs). According to producer László Kántor, Nagy was chosen over Jean Reno and Christopher…
Hell goes into postproduction
Turkey's first 3-D movie, Cehennem (Hell), finished filming in June 2010. It was shot with digital HD technology.
Turkish TV series sell abroad
Turkish TV series are taking off in Eastern Europe as well as Arabic countries, according to a new Eurodata report.
Slovakia announces coproduction forum
MEDIA Desk Slovakia (www.mediadeskslovakia.eu) and the European Documentary Network (www.edn.dk) are organising a one-day ‘Co-Producing Documentaries in Europe' seminar and workshop focusing on the opportunities for documentaries on the European…
East Silver accepts applications
The 7th Annual East Silver Market, specialising in Eastern and Central European documentaries, has announced it is accepting submissions for 2010.
If I Want to Whistle racks up more sales
Berlinale Silver Bear winner If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle has been sold to the United Kingdom, France and the United States. Director Florin Şerban's first feature was released…
PRODUCTION: Antonio Riestra signs on to Lidice
Mexican cinematographer Antonio Riestra, Oscar nominiee for best cinematography for Amores Perros (2000), will shoot Lidice, a big-budget Czech war movie directed by Petr Nikolaev and starring Karel Roden.
Mirage heads to CineLink
Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu's Mirage will be present at the CineLink market in Sarajevo (www.sff.ba/en/cinelink).
Romanian admissions soar
Romanian admissions are up 59% in the first half of 2010, compared with 2009, with a total of 3,239,129 tickets, up from 2,034,291 in 2009. Profits for the same period…
