Seven Czech films will be screened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, next week and in early April as part of showcase of Czech cinematography organized by Czech Film Center (www.filmcenter.cz) and the Czech Center in the Argentine capital. Besides public screenings, the week-long celebration of contemporary Czech film will feature special screenings for local distributors and other film professionals.
Hungarian director Tamas Toth picked up the best director prize for his film Wolf at the European Independent Film Festival 2008 in Paris on Sunday. The weekend event featured 102 films from 28 countries, the festival website said.
Public broadcaster Czech Television collected 5 billion crowns (€200,000) in licence fees in 2007, a nearly 25% increase from the previous year. License fees represent the main source of income for CT.
Polish authorities have launched a new program to help young filmmakers get a crucial boost at the beginning of their careers:.the "Youth and Film" Studio, named after Andrzej Munk, a leading auteur of Polish cinema. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Polish Filmmakers Association and the Polish Film Institute signed an agreement establishing the studio on Friday.
Katyń, renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda's film about the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers in the Soviet Union in 1940, will be screened in Moscow today through Wednesday for select audiences including artists, members of the opposition and VIPs, according to Polish Radio's external service (www.theeews.pl).
The Mermaid by Russian director Anna Melikian won the Best Film Award at the 12th edition of the international Sofia Film Festival, according to the Bulgarian news agency BTA. The award, presented at a ceremony Saturday night in Sofia, was accompanied by a prize of €5,000
Principal photography begins Monday (March 17) in Malta on the big-budget historical Egyptian epic Agora by Academy Award-winner Alejandro Amenábar. The shoot on location in Malta will take about 15 weeks, according to an announcement by Madrid-based Mod Producciones.
The Museum of Polish History is holding a review of 21 documentaries relating to various aspects of World War II. Polish radio quoted a museum spokesman as saying the festival explores the war experience of the populations of many nations, not only Poles but also Russians, Germans, Czechs and Americans
Tricks by Polish director Andrzej Jakimowski has won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for best foreign film at the Miami Film Festival, Polish Radio's external service reported. Released in 2007, Tricks has won awards in Venice, Tokyo, Mannheim, Sao Paulo and Bratislava.
Trial broadcasts of 12 programmes from public broadcaster TVP and private broadcasters TVN and Polsat are under way in Warsaw, according to the Krakow-based research and consulting firm PMR Ltd. If the tests are successful as expected, it could mean a full-scale launch of digital mobile TV in Poland later this year.
