BUDAPEST: The Hungarian Film Week (HFW) has made a successful return after a two year absence and the only prize winners were the audience and guests who were able to see the best of the last three years of Hungarian feature films, docs and shorts.

VIENNA: Estonian director Ilmar Raag’s I Won’t Come Back won the top prize of the feature film competition at the third edition of the Let’s CEE Film Festival which took place in Vienna 2-11 October 2014. Russian-Ukranian director Vitaly Mansky won the top prize for best documentary.

BUDAPEST: The Hungarian Film Week (HFW) returns after a two year absence as a newly minted event organised by the Hungarian National Film Fund, National Media and Info-communications Authority and the Hungarian Film Academy. The event which showcases new Hungarian film has been moved  from the traditional pre-Berlin slot in February that it occupied from 1989 and will this year take place in Budapest from 13-19 October 2014.

GDYNIA: The top prize of the 39. Gdynia Film Festival went to Gods directed by Łukasz Palkowski, a biopic about professor Zbigniew Religa, who performed the first successful heart transplant in Poland in the ‘80s.

VENICE: The top prize of the 71st Venice International Film Festival went A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting on Existence directed by Roy Andersson who picked up a Golden Lion for best film for the coproduction from Sweden, Germany, Norway and France.

VENICE: There is still time to catch the critically highly rated These are the Rules directed by Ognjen Svilicic and produced by Maxima Film and Line of Credit by Georgian director Salome Alexi. Both films are competing in the Orizzonit section of the festival and are screening in the Venice Film Festival’s Sala Web.

VENICE: High profile regional and national leaders kicked off the launch of RE-ACT (Regional Audiovisual Cooperation and Training) in Venice yesterday underlining the importance of this new trans-regional initiative for co-developing audiovisual projects between Croatia, Slovenia and the Italian region of Friuli Venizia Guilia.

VENICE: Festival visitors should be aware that this year has seen a massive increase in the amount of bicycles stolen on the Lido during the film festival. The increase in bike theft may be as much as 10 times more than in previous years. The bicycles are often stolen in broad daylight in crowded areas even though they are securely locked. 

VENICE: The Croatian Audiovisual Centre, FVG Audiovisual Fund and Slovenian Film Centre have joined forces for the launch of an innovative co-development initiative in cooperation with TorinoFilmLab. The new initiative will kick off with a press conference in Venice tomorrow, Monday 1 September 2014, at the Venice Film Market.

VENICE: This year Venice Film Festival is offering 11 films from its official programme to the public to watch online worldwide during the festival. Venice Biennale’s Sala Web allows audiences worldwide to screen these selections of the Venice International Film Festival. Sala Web is offering their exclusive limited window online screenings for the third consecutive year.