CANNES: Short films by the Croatian director Miroslav Sikavica, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili and Czech director Jan Saska were selected for the 48th Directors' Fortnight of Cannes Film Festival.

PLZEN: Five Czech projects and three foreign projects were presented in a revamped version of the annual pitching forum at the Finale Plzen festival running through 21 April 2016.

ISTANBUL: Romanian director/producer/scriptwriter Anca Damian won the Eurimages Audentia Award for her animated documentary The Magic Mountain produced by Aparte Film. The award aimed at promoting female directors was launched by the Council of Europe together with the Istanbul Film Festival.

Czech Film Center and Finale Plzen Film Festival have been organizing a presentation of upcoming Czech films since 2004.  Yesterday, 18 April, they introduced a newly tailored presentation, named Czech Film Springboard. 

BUCHAREST: Albüm by Mehmet Can Mertoglu, a Turkish/French/Romanian coproduction, was selected for the 55th Critics’ Week of Cannes Film Festival.

BUCHAREST: Cristian Mungiu’s new feature film, Graduation / Bacalaureat, selected for the Official Competition of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, was sold by Wild Bunch to Sundance Selects for distribution in the USA. The film was pre-sold in more than 20 territories since 2015.

Special focus will be given to Lithuania at the biggest Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel that will take place on April 15–23. The festival will present a retrospective of films by Audrius Stonys, hold a world premiere of the film I’m Not from Here by Giedrė Žickytė and Maite Alberdi, and screen the film Mariupol by Mantas Kvedaravičius.

Interviewed by Auksė Kancerevičiūtė

VILNIUS: I, Olga Hepnarova, the debut feature by Petr Kazda and Tomáš Weinreb, and Thirst by Svetla Tsotsorkova, won Best Film ex-aequo in the New Europe – New Names Competition of the 21st Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris, which wrapped on 14 April 2016.

Two films that were presented within the East European Forum will premiere within Visons du Réel, which starts on 15 April 2016: Wall of Death, and All That by Mladen Kovačević and The Dazzling Light of Sunset by the Georgian director Salome Jashi.