SKOPJE: Goce Cvetanovski`s hand-drawn animated film John Vardar vs. the Galaxy, which is Macedonia’s first long animated feature project, is currently in preproduction.

SOFIA: Escobar, a Spanish/Bulgarian European coproduction starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, and directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, will start shooting in Columbia on 24 October 2016.

VALLETTA: Malta has played host to two series in recent weeks, with the Wachowski’s high-profile Sense8 and the Smithsonian Channel-backed Warrior Women, serviced by Parker Film & TV Productions, both filming on the island.

BUCHAREST: Tudor Giurgiu is in the casting process with his new feature film At the Side of the Moon, set for shooting in Spain and Romania in spring 2017. This Romanian/Spanish coproduction is his first project shot abroad.

BELGRADE: Serbian director Milan Karadzic is in production with Biser Bojane, a contemporary romantic comedy. The film is a coproduction between Montenegro and Serbia and is set to open in 2017.

TBILISI: Anthony Lucero’s feature film The Clown starring Lily Collins, Pål Sverre Hagen and Jean-Marc Barr is currently shooting in Tbilisi until October 2016. The Georgian company Misty Dawn is servicing. Romanian Marius Panduru (Aferim! by Radu Jude, Hi Film) is the DoP, while South African/American rock star Dave Matthews will create the soundtrack.

PRAGUE: Musicians / Muzikanti directed by Slovak director Dušan Rapoš, the author of the cult musical of the 80’s The Fountain for Zuzana, wraps shooting at Těšínské Slezko, on the Czech-Polish-Slovak border, on 9 September 2016.

PRAGUE: Bollywood romantic road movie The Ring, starring Shah Rukh Khan, is currently shooting in Prague and set to spend almost 2 m EUR there. The film directed by Imtiaz Ali is produced by the prominent Bollywood production and distribution company Red Chillies Entertainment. Czech company Punk Film is providing services.

SOFIA: Action/Adventure Category 5 by Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious, Mummy 3) started shooting on location in Bulgaria on 29 August 2016. Shooting will wrap in 11 weeks-time and will be followed by another week in the UK.

BELGRADE: Serbian helmer Predrag Antonijević is in production with the TV series My Father’s Killers / Ubice moga oca, a 10-episode crime drama about a young inspector on his first big case. The local media labeled it as the “Serbian True Detective” and a second season is already being planned.

BELGRADE: Serbian director Zdravko Šotra is in production with Santa Maria della Salute, a feature film and a TV series shot simultaneously, about the life and work of the Serbian poet Laza Kostić. Shooting started on 1 August 2016 and will wrap at the end of October 2016. The 70 shooting days will be spent on location in Serbia, Montenegro (Cetinje), Italy (Venice) and Hungary (Budapest). The total number of locations amounts to around 150. The film and TV series are being edited as the shoot is progressing.

VILNIUS: Lithuanian director Giedrė Beinoriūtė is currently shooting Breathing into Marble, a Lithuanian/Croatian coproduction based on a novel by Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė. This is the debut feature of Beinoriūtė, whose documentary Conversations on Serious Topics / Pokalbiai rimtomis temomis (Monoklis) was selected as Lithuania’s bid for the 2013 Oscars.

LUBLIN: Polish box office hit director Juliusz Machulski is currently shooting his new comedy Volta, produced by ZEBRA Film Studio with an all-star cast. The film is set to premiere in 2017.

BELGRADE: Serbian actor Nikola Kojo has wrapped production on his directorial debut The Flock / Stado, a satirical comedy about life behind the camera, based on a true story. The project is currently in postproduction with the premiere due for 24 November 2016.

VALLETTA: The film commissioner for Malta, Engelbert Grech, has announced that Netflix is in talks with the Commission to film parts of a series in Malta. Although Grech revealed no details on the Netflix series, he indicated that a further announcement on the deal can be expected in mid-September 2016.

PRAGUE: New Czech production company Cinema Belongs To Us, founded by filmmaker Asmara Beraki, is currently in production with the low budget film The Absence of Closeness. This psychological drama is the debut feature by Josef Tuka, who studied at FAMU under the tutelage of Věra Chytilová.