Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will play the main role in the film in The Door for Hungarian director István Szabó.

UK based Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski is returning to Poland to shoot Sister of Mercy in his native language.

Lidice, a Czech-Polish war drama from director Alice Nellis, will begin shooting at the end of November, producer Adam Dvořák, head of production/distribution company Bioscop (www.bioscop.cz), announced.

The Whistelblower, Larysa Kondracki's feature debut starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave, David Straitharn and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, started filming at MediaPro Studios (www.mediaprostudios.com) in Bucharest on October 26.

A Polish/British Oscar-winning animation team have started work on Project Chopin, the biggest European animation film of the year.

Internationally acclaimed stage director Silviu Purcărete makes his directorial film debut with Somewhere in Palilula, an ambitious dark comedy about life under communism. Shooting started in Bucharest on October 14.

The opening of Janosik. A True Story in Central Europe came after more than six years in production limbo before being resuscitated by Polish funding.

Women´s Temptation, a comedy by director Jiří Vejdělek, moved into post-production following completion of filming on October 19.

After Angling/Pescuit sportiv, Adrian Sitaru is preparing his second feature, From Love With Best Intentions/ Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intenţii, a story about growing up in contemporary Romania.

Short film Palme d'Or winner Marian Crişan (Megatron, 2008) is in production with his feature debut, Morgen, the story of a Romanian who goes fishing and comes home with a Kurd, at the Romanian-Hungarian border.