COTTBUS: Malta’s fledgling local film industry needs a dynamic professional to pull the small island country’s film production onto the world stage. Meet Pierre Ellul. Ellul is providing a short film for the European Film Academy’s awards taking place in Malta in December, when the country brings filmmakers from across Europe to see the Malta miracle first hand.

PRAGUE: The Czech National Film Archives will become the parent organization of the Czech Film Center (www.filmcenter.cz), the Czech MEDIA Desk (www.mediadesk.cz), and the Czech Film Commission (www.filmcommission.cz) as of 1 January 2013, assuring annual government funding for the individual institutions.

PRAGUE: Leading CEE TV and media company Central European Media Enterprises (CME, www.cetv-net.com) announced third quarter 2012 net revenues of US$ 140.1 m, compared to US$ 165.5 m in the same period in 2011, a decline of 15.3%. CME shares followed suit with a one-day loss of nearly 20%.

RIGA: Latvian producer Guntis Trekteris is producing and developing a slate of international documentary films through his company Ego Media (www.egomedia.lv).

COTTBUS: The 14^th edition of the East-West coproduction market connecting cottbus (www.connectingcottbus.de) taking place 8-9 November will present 13 films representing 12 countries, with participants pitching to an industry audience of some 150 people.

PRAGUE: The Czech MEDIA Desk (www.mediadesk.cz) and the Czech Film Center (www.filmcenter.cz) are launching new strategies to help Czech filmmakers increase the scope of coproductions.

JIHLAVA: Serbian director Srdjan Keča’s film Mirage (skeca.com/mirage) won the Best CEE Documentary Film at the 16th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (www.dokument-festival.cz), which concluded 28 October 2012.

JIHLAVA: The heads of the public TV broadcasters from the four Visegrad countries – Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary - met this week during the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (www.dokument-festival.cz), to discuss cooperation on documentaries and doc coproductions.

JIHLAVA: Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (23-28 October 2012, www.dokument-festival.cz) has launched a new platform for documentary producers under the title Emerging Producers.

JIHLAVA: Central European documentary filmmakers are beginning to see some coproduction funding sources in TV stations across the region, but most will have to look westward for their budgets.