BUDAPEST: The 78th Congress of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) will be hosted in Budapest by the National Film Institute – Hungary 24-29 April 2022.

FNE is launching a new series of articles about one of the fastest growing business sectors in Europe.

BUCHAREST: British-born Bucharest-based film director and writer Tom Wilson is currently in postproduction with his third feature film Dark Ages, produced by Corneliu Porumboiu’s outlet 42 Km Film in coproduction with Cinemotif Films from the Czech Republic.

BRATISLAVA: dok.incubator has announced the projects selected for the 2022 edition of the Slovak workshop. The documentaries are made by young filmmakers and should be ready for cinemas in 2023.

dok.incubator announces four selected projects for the 2022 edition of the Slovak workshop. The documentaries by young talented filmmakers cover topics of various issues in current Slovakia and should be ready for cinemas in 2023.

“This year's selection of the Slovak dok.incubator has brought impressive young talents who have a courage to shed a light on painful issues such as poverty, discrimination, inequality or fight for saving the unique cultural heritage of the Slovak National Gallery. They all address pains of Slovak society and political disfunctions in a powerful, amusing or breathtakingly poetical storytelling. We are proudly looking forward to working with these brave, critical, and gifted filmmakers in the upcoming months,” says Miriam Ryndová, the program manager of regional workshops.

Selected films for dok.incubator SK 2022:

  • All Good Everywhere /SK/
    Directed by Debora Pastirčáková and Martina Buchelová
  • Caution, Risk of Falling Exhibits! /SK/
    Directed by Jana Durajová and Lena Kušnieriková
  • City of Dreams /SK/
    Directed by Adam Šoltés and Matúš Chovanec
  • On the Edge /SK/
    Directed by Sabina Pappová and Tomáš Bačo

The four selected projects will work with this year’s tutors, namely Vadim Jendreyko /CH/, François Sculier /FR/ and Alex Szalat /FR/ for the next seven months and will aim to be finished in 2023.

dok.incubator SK is one of the two regional workshops organized by dok.incubator. It works with Slovak productions and coproductions to sharpen their editing, marketing, and distribution strategy. Recently the workshop worked with films like The Sailor by Lucia Kašová (the Best Documentary at Rhode Island International Film festival), Lines by Barbora Sliepková (3 awards at IDFF Ji.hlava) or On Your Marks! by Maria Pinčíková (premiered at DOC Lisboa).

ZAGREB: The Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) is proposing an increase in incentives for international productions shooting in Croatia from 25 to 30%, and three percent from the total amount to fuel the domestic production.

PRAGUE: Czech artist and illustrator Jiří Šalamoun, the father of the cartoon character Maxipes Fík, has died at the age of 86. The dog Maxipes Fík is one of the most popular Czech cartoon characters to date.

WARSAW: FNE has teamed up with the Brussels based team of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) to bring you regular updates on EU cinema policies that impact all industry professionals across Europe. Click here for FNE UNIC EU Cinema Policy Update.

Ukraine

16/03: CULT Exchange of Views on "The Russian War Against Ukraine" – European Parliament

Given the dramatic situation in Ukraine, the CULT Committee put a thematic focus on Russia’s aggression in its forthcoming committee meeting on 15 March 2022.

Cultural and creative industries and AI

16/03: Commission publishes two studies to map the challenges and opportunities for cultural and creative sectors in the digital decade – European Commission

Both studies aim to provide creative entrepreneurs, academics, national policy makers as well as EU policy makers with concrete ideas as well as avenues for further exploration.

Digital Services Act

21/03: IMCO Digital Services Act – European Parliament

The third trilogue on the DSA took place on 15.03.2022 in the Council's premises. The EP Rapporteur, Christel Schaldemose (S&D), said: the DSA has been drafted and now negotiated in the context of two major crises: the global pandemic and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The crises have brought the shortcomings of the current framework to light, but they have also made it clear that we must not forget who we are and defend our values in the DSA.

Digital Markets Act

25/03: Digital Markets Act (DMA): agreement between the Council and the European Parliament – European Council

The Council and the Parliament today reached a provisional political agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to make the digital sector fairer and more competitive. Final technical work will make it possible to finalise the text in the coming days.

25/03: Digital Markets Act: Commission welcomes political agreement on rules to ensure fair and open digital markets – European Commission

The Commission welcomes the swift political agreement reached yesterday between the European Parliament and EU Member States on the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The regulation, agreed in slightly more than a year after it was proposed, is among the first initiatives of its kind to comprehensively regulate the gatekeeper power of the largest digital companies.

NextGenerationEU

22/03: NextGenerationEU: European Commission completes the second successful bond issuance in 2022 – European Commission

The European Commission has today raised a further €10 billion in NextGenerationEU funds through its second bond syndication of 2022. The 10-year bond, due on 06 July 2032, brings the total financing raised under the programme to €91 billion. This placement will continue to support Europe's economic recovery under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the other EU-budget programmes funded through NextGenerationEU.

European Council

25/03: Charles Michel re-elected president of the European Council – Council of the EU

The European Council re-elected Charles Michel as its president for a second term of two and a half years, from 1 June 2022 to 30 November 2024. Charles Michel was also re-appointed as President of the Euro Summit for the same period.

Events:

April 2022 - Adoption of Council conclusions on building a European Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries

5-6 April - UKCA Conference

25-28 April - CinemaCon 2022

20-23 April - UNIC programme in Cannes, more details to follow

20 May - EFF in Cannes - location and topic tbc

21 May - European Audiovisual Observatory conference “Circulation of films – is there enough availability?”

20-23 June - CineEurope 2022

VILNIUS: Acclaimed Lithuanian documentary film director Mantas Kvedaravičius (45) has been killed in Mariupol, the very Ukrainian town which he documented in Mariupolis.