{mosimage}First Screening: Thursday 16 February

BERLIN: Danish director Nikolaj Arcel has brought to Berlin a lavish period costume drama that still manages to be character driven and emotionally satisfying which is quite a feat. The strong international sales that the A Royal Affair has had before its Berlin premier testify to his accomplishment.

{mosimage}PRAGUE: Vaclav Havel’s Leaving has dominated the nominations for the annual Czech Lions awards which will be held this Saturday 3 March 2012. The film was the first and only venture into directing for the former Czech president who died at the end of 2011. Leaving has garnered 12 nominations including Bert Film, Best Director and Best Screen play.

{mosimage}WARSAW: Polish director Marcin Janiec’s animated 3D short The Game has won two prestigious international awards. The short film about a life and death chess battle took Best of Show from the Indie Fest in California and Rising Star Award voted for by the jury of the Canada International Film Festival.

{mosimage}First Screening: Thursday 16 February

BERLIN: Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf’s powerful drama of a day in the life of a Romany family in a Hungarian village where a series of racist motivated murders is taking place is based on a true story.

{mosimage}First Screening Saturday 11 February

BERLIN: This is German director Christian Petzold’s third film in competition at the Berlinale following Gespenster in 2005 and Yella in 2008 and he deservedly won the Golden Bear for Best Director this year with his latest film Barbara. The film stars Nina Hoss who has starred in four of Petzold’s previous films and she turns in once again an outstanding performance as Barbara, a young doctor in the GDR awaiting her chance to escape to the West.

First screening: Saturday 11 February

{mosimage}BERLIN: Italian veterans Paolo and Vittorio Taviani deservedly took home a Golden Bear for Caesar Must Die a powerful depiction of a group of prison inmates’ performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The gritty documentary is a return to the Taviani’s earlier style that originally won them international acclaim after a long string of well-made but lesser works that did not bring the same energy and genius to the screen as this Berlin winner.

{mosimage}BERLIN: The 62 Berlinale awarded its highest honour to a to a documentary by the veteran Italian directing team Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for their docu-drama Caesar Must Die about a group of criminals performing Shakespeare in a prison. Taviani's also picked up the Ecumenical Jury prize.

BERLIN: The 62 Berlinale awarded its highest honour to a to a documentary by the veteran Italian directing team Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for their docu-drama Caesar Must Die about a group of criminals performing Shakespeare in a prison. Taviani's also picked up the Ecumenical Jury prize.

{mosimage}BERLIN: The Lithuanian feature film Restricted Sensation by a Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevicius will take place tonight at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. It is important to note that this is the only Lithuanian film that has made it to Berlinale this year and it will be screened as a part of a "Forum Expanded" programme.

{mosimage}BIARRITZ: The 25 edition of FIPA (23-29 January 2012 www.fipa.tm.fr) celebrated opening the doors of European television to global producers including central and Eastern European partners.