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.

BERLIN: The third film in Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu's poetic trilogy ,Honey is a quiet, beautiful film about the relationship between man and nature. Set in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, an area of untouched nature where man lives in harmony with his surroundings the film shows us poetic scenes of everyday life.

{mosimage}MOSCOW: Films from Central and Eastern Europe has a major presence at the 32nd Moscow International Film Festival (www.moscowfimfestival.ru) held from 17 to 26 June. Jan Kidawa-Blonski's Little Rose took home the best director's prize in the main competition while Reverse directed by Borys Lankosz won the prize for best film in the Perspectives Competition. Festival selectors will have their eyes on the annual Festival of Polish Film in Gdynia as both films were winners of the top prize there in 2009 and 2010. The Czech film An Earthly Paradise for the Eyes directed by Irena Pavlaskova garnered a Silver George for best actress for Czech star VIlma Cibulkova.

MOSCOW: The 32 edition of the Moscow International Film Festival (www.moscowfilmfestival.ru) will be dominated by films from neighbouring central European countries with six films from CEE in the main competition and another film in the Perspectives competition.

KRAKOW: The Krakow International Film Festival (http://www.kff.com.pl/), celebrated its 50^th anniversary well attended gala where top awards in the international doc competition went to the Kaleo La Belle's Beyond This Place and Andrei Gryazev's Sanya and Sparrow. This year's Dragon of Dragons for lifetime achievement went to Jonas Medas legend of New York Avant-garde.

ISTANBUL: Celebrated Turkish photo artist Selim Gunes is in production on his first feature film Snow White produced by Istanbul based Agustos Film (http://www.agustos.com/). The film was one of nine feature film projects selected to be funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture this year.