BITOLA: Macedonia’s Sektor Film is in postproduction with The Red Poet, a TV series by Nikolce Popovski about the famous Macedonian poet Kosta Racin. The first episode will be aired in January 2017.

BELGRADE: US helmer Tamar Halpern has wrapped production on Missing in Europe, a thriller about human trafficking entirely shot in Belgrade. The project is currently in postproduction with the premiere due for the second half of 2017.

SOFIA: Acclaimed director, scriptwriter and producer Stephan Komandarev completed the shooting of his low budget feature film Directions aka Compatibility on 5 December 2016. The film is a Bulgarian /German/ Macedonian coproduction, whose financing took less than a year.

VALLETTA: Austrian director Wolfgang Fischer has wrapped a 33 day shoot in Malta for his sophomore film Styx. A coproduction between Berlin’s Schiwago Film and Amour Fou in Vienna, with executive production by Small Island Films in Malta, Styx depicts the transformation of a strong woman on a solo sailing trip.

SOFIA: Paul Solet’s American thriller Unchained, starring Adrien Brody, John Malkovich and Antonio Banderas, started shooting in Bulgaria at the end of November 2016. Nu Boyana Film Studios is servicing.

VILNIUS: Documentary Waiting for Invasion by Neringa Medutyte will wrap shooting in December 2016, with the premiere set for the first quarter of 2017. The film is a coming-of-age story about two young Lithuanians conscripted in case of a Russian aggression.

SOFIA: Bubblegum, the first feature film by well-known Bulgarian TV serials director Stanislav Todorov – Rogi, has entered postproduction.

BUCHAREST: Romanian writer/director Cristina Iacob is in preparation with another teen film, Confessions of a Teenager / Suge-o, Ramona!, following her box office hits #selfie and #selfie 69, which topped the domestic charts in 2014 and 2016,

ZAGREB: Writer/director Bobo Jelčić is in preparation with All Alone / Sam samcat, an intimate character study and a social drama about a divorced father struggling with the legal labyrinth without breaking the parental bond. The film is a Croatian/Bosnian coproduction.

SKOPJE: Acclaimed Macedonian actor Meto Jovanovski and Serbian-Montenegrin producer/director Branko Baletic are in preparation with Fear and Love, a feature film set to shoot in September/October 2017.

VILNIUS: Leningrad Symphony, a docudrama by director Christian Frey for Beetz Filmproduktion Hamburg, begins principle photography in Lithuania on 29 November 2016. Shooting wil wrap on 4 December.

BRATISLAVA: The Slovak/Czech/Slovenian/Macedonian historical drama Piargy is moving into production after three years in development which resulted in a change of director. Czech director Ivo Trajkov began the first days of shooting on the four-seasons film in May 2016 and will continue throughout 2017.

ZAGREB: Acclaimed Croatian writer/director Ognjen Sviličić is in preparation with God in a Shoe, a drama about faith set for shooting in summer/autumn 2017.

ZAGREB: Deep Cuts, an omnibus film about violence, directed by Filip Peruzović, Filip Mojzeš and Dubravka Turić, is currently in preparation. The Croatian company Kinematograf is producing.

ZAGREB: Eduard Galić, at age 80 considered the most prolific director in Croatia with a career spanning more than 45 years, is in preparation with a new feature film, The Sixth Bus. This Croatian/Australian coproduction is set for shooting in fall 2017.

ZAGREB: Jure Pavlović is in preparation with his debut feature film Awakenings, a coproduction between Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.