MOSCOW: The 5^th edition of Moscow Business Square had a special emphasis on film projects from central and eastern Europe including a presentation of new coproductions from Poland sponsored by the Polish Film Institute (PISF) and films from the Baltics and Georgia.

BRATISLAVA: Controversial Slovak doc Normalization, titled Kauza Cervanova in Slovak, has scored the biggest domestic box office success of the year for a doc with almost 20,000 EUR at the box office and 5400 admissions after a month on theatrical release. Slovakia has become one of the hottest countries in Europe for production of docs that score theatrical box office successes and on the international festival circuit.

WARSAW: European filmmakers have won the first round to have film excluded from the EU-US Trade Talks. European trade ministers bowed to filmmakers’ demands for the exclusion but only after French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq threatened to veto any mandate that doesn’t include protection of cultural services including the exclusion of the audiovisual sector. The Romanian and Belgian governments also backed the French position.

MOSCOW: The 35^th Moscow International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday 20 June and runs until 29 June with a competition lineup that includes Polish director Wojciech Smarzowski’s Traffic Department and Georgian director Archil Kavtaradze’s Disorder. A total of 16 films from 13 countries will compete for the festival’s main prize the St George.

EDITORIAL: The EU-US trade talks will determine the future of our European film industry. European culture is not something to be bargained away and should not be included in these talks. Each of us needs to make our views known.

KRAKOW: The 53 Edition of the Krakow Film Festival held from 26 May to 2 June 2013 screened over 250 films and boasted a wealth of competitions with films competing for prizes in the categories of international music documentary, international documentary, international short film and national film competitions. 

CANNES: Blue is the Warmest Colour directed by Abdellatif Kechiche walked away with the Palme D’Or at one of the coldest and wettest Cannes Festivals on record. The film also received the presitigous FIPRESCI award of the international federation of critics. 

CANNES: The European Parliament has voted in favour of a resolution calling for the exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services from the negotiating mandate for a free trade agreement between the US and the EU following strong protests in Cannes and across Europe from the audiovisual sector. The resolution was carried by a large majority.

CANNES: The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia Andrea Zlatar Violić, and Minister of Culture of the French Republic Aurélie Filippetti signed the Coproduction Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Government of the French Republic during Cannes.

CANNES: The prestigious Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for the Best Eastern and Central European Script was awarded to Polish scriptwriting duo Bartosz Konopka and Przemyslaw Nowakowski for their screenplay The Mute at a gala ceremony in Cannes last night.