The Hungarian premiere of Beasts of the Southern Wild, which is now nominated for the Academy Award in four categories, was held in September at Jameson CineFest in the presence of director Benh Zeitlin. Though it is his first feature film, Zeitlin was nominated for the world’s most prestigious film award in the category of Best Director among such legends like Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee or Michael Haneke.

The winners of Jussi Awards (the "Finnish Oscars") will be announced on February 3, 2013.

Jussi Awards are annual film awards for the best achievements within Finnish cinema. The awards are given by Filmiaura, an association of Finnish film professionals. The Jussi Awards cover altogether 15 categories: best film, direction, actress in a leading role, actor in a leading role, actress in a supporting role, actor in a supporting role, script, cinematography, music, editing, sound design, set design, costume design, makeup design and documentary. The first Jussi Awards were given in 1944.

WARSAW: The EKRAN training programme for creative preproduction organized by Wajda Studio and the Wajda School is accepting applications from Poland and Croatia until 20 January 2013. Participation in the programme is free.

STRASBOURG: Irina Kanousheva will represent Bulgaria as the country takes on the annually rotating Presidency of the European Audiovisual Observatory for 2013. 

Creative documentaries from Eastern Europe are eligible to apply for IDFA's Bertha Fund, which has a deadline of 1 February. Read the full story on the IDF website.

FNE together with Europa Distribution continues its Distributor of the Month series. In recognition of the hard work and excellence of European distributors and the common problems they face, especially in the transition to digitalization, we choose a distributor from each country covered by FNE each month.

BRATISLAVA: Two young Slovak filmmakers will present their films at the 42nd Rotterdam IFF, opening on 23 January 2013.

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.