VENICE: The Bulgarian Italian coproduction Goodbye Mama (www.kinoweb.it) directed by Michelle Bonev will be awarded the Action For Women prize by the Italian Ministry of Culture today at a special screening of the film at the Venice International Film Festival.

VENICE: Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing staring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner will screen in the main competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. The film is produced by Skopia Film of Poland (www.skopiafilm.com) with backing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and Canal+Cyfrowy and coproduced by Hungary's Mythberg Films (www.mythbergfilms.hu) together with Ireland's Element Pictures and Cylinger Productions of Norway and backing from Eurimages. Hanway Films is handling international sales.

KARLOVY VARY: The new Czech tax rebate law has spawned the first of what will undoubtedly be many new production and location services outfits.
California based director/producer Sean Ramsay speaking to FNE at KIVFF announced the launch of Central European Production and Locations together with his Prague based partner Steve Clarke.

BERLIN:The ghost of the absent director Roman Polanski, under house arrest in Switzerland, hung over the premier of his film in competition in Berlin. The Polish born director was arrested in September but finished the film while in prison and later from his chalet where he was awaiting a decision on extradition to America.

BERLIN: Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic has managed the difficult task of following her debut feature Grbavica which won the Golden Bear in 2006 with a second strong film The Path. The 35-year-old director has tackled the difficult subject of the growing radicalism of Islam in Bosnia and how this affects society and personal relationships.

BERLIN:Russian director Alexei Popogrebsky's film How I Ended the Summer has a cast of just two actors who are isolated at a remote meteorological station in the far north. But the real protagonist of the film is the beautiful and dangerous landscape of this polar island in the Russian Arctic where the film was shot.

BERLIN: Romanian director Florin Serban has brought an uncompromising realism to his debut feature If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle a hard hitting drama based on a stage play by Romanian author Andreea Valean. Set in a reformatory the film is a powerful story of young delinquents and the violence that shapes their lives.