PRAGUE: The Latvian minority coproduction This Rain Will Never Stop by Alina Gorlova was awarded Best Film in the International Competition of the 23rd One World Festival, whose first segment wrapped on 19 May 2021.
BUCHAREST: Romanian writer/director/producer Paul Negoescu is currently in production with his fourth feature film Men of Deeds / Oameni de treabă. This Romanian/Bulgarian coproduction is Negoescu’s first film based on somebody else’s script.
WARSAW: The 8th Kids Kino IFF will take place again this year in a hybrid format, but it will expand its duration. It will screen in 20 Polish towns from 25 September to 3 October 2021 and will move online from 7 to 24 October 2021.
VALLETTA: Malta’s National Book Council has launched a call for applications for its adaptation fund, which seeks to award one project with a maximum of 200,000 EUR to cover development and production spend.
ASTRA IS READY FOR A JOURNEY IN SPACE. SHOOTING OF A NEW FILM BY MICHAŁ ŁUBIŃSKI BEGAN
Press releases 18-05-2021Spectacular and unbelievable adventures will happen in the real micro-world of stop-motion when 6-years old girl flies into space to save a sister! The universal story about sisterly love and the inevitable difficulty of life starts when Astra tries to stop Anna from participation in the dangerous mission. Yet nothing will stop her from going to outer space when Anna needs her help. The shooting of a new puppet animation “Astra” began in early May this year in the Audiovisual Technology Center in Wroclaw, Poland. The title character will be accompanied by five other heroes, created in the puppet studio in Łódź.
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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.
COVID-19: Cultural and Creative Sectors
10/05: Culture and Education committee backs new Erasmus+, Creative Europe and Solidarity Corps programmes – European Parliament
Culture and Education MEPs adopted its recommendation for European Parliament to back the 2021-2027 editions of Erasmus+, Creative Europe and European Solidarity Corps.
06/05: Music streaming and its impact on composers and songwriters. Why we should fix streaming now - European Composer and Songwriter Alliance
ECSA call both policy makers and all stakeholders in the music sector to promote a fairer and more transparent ecosystem for music streaming, which could finally benefit music creators, who are at the origin of all musical creations.
COVID-19: EU response
12/05: Spring 2021 Economic Forecast: Rolling up sleeves – European Commission
The Spring 2021 Economic Forecast projects that the EU economy will expand by 4.2% in 2021 and by 4.4% in 2022. The euro area economy is forecast to grow by 4.3% this year and 4.4% next year.
11/05: Next Generation EU: An opportunity in a crisis – The Parliament Magazine
The EU recovery fund presents the ideal chance to create a more social and sustainable Europe in the future; let’s seize it, writes Dennis Radtke.
05/05: Q&A on the EU COVID-19 certificate – European Parliament
04/05: EU recovery plans must address gaps that the COVID-19 crisis has exposed – The Parliament Magazine
More than strategies, we need actions to help EU industry regain its competitiveness, argues the EESC’s Stefano Mallia.
Antitrust
/05: European Commission: 2019 Commitment Decision involving major film studios and Sky UK withdrawn – EAO Newsletter
On 31 March 2021, the European Commission withdrew an important 2019 Commitment Decision which had made commitments binding a number of well-known film studios and the broadcaster Sky UK to address the Commission’s concerns regarding clauses in the studios' licensing contracts for pay-TV with Sky UK.
Digital tax
12/05: Statement by Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager following today's Court judgments on the Amazon and Engie tax State aid cases in Luxembourg – European Commission
European LUX Award
12/05: LUX audience week: opportunity to watch and vote for films online – European Parliament
During the LUX Audience Week audiences across Europe are offered to watch the nominated films for the LUX Audience Award 2021 online for free on the LUX virtual cinema.
Czech Republic
10/05: State aid: Commission approves €1.9 billion Czech scheme to support companies in context of coronavirus outbreak – European Commission
The European Commission has approved an approximately € 1.9 billion (CZK 50 billion) Czech scheme to support companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.
Events:
17 – 20 May: European Parliament Plenary
17 – 18 May: Consilium meeting of culture ministers – adoption of the conclusions on the Media and AV Action Plan
21 May: Eurogroup meeting
21 – 22 May: ECOFIN Meeting
26 May: EU Copyright Law: State of Play and Future Directions – Conference
26 May: European Parliament conference on the reopening of culture
26 May: IMCO Committee
26 – 27 May: JURI Committee
27 May: CULT Committee – presentation of the MAAP draft report
2 June: SAA Expert Seminar on the Copyright directive, Article 18
4 June: Deadline for amendments on the MAAP report in the Culture committee
1 July: Joint IPKat-BLACA-IFIM live webinar on CJEU YouTube/Cyando judgment
VALLETTA: Cinemas across the Maltese islands are set to reopen on 7 June 2021, following a nearly four-month closure imposed earlier this year as part of a wider spate of restrictions aiming to get Coronavirus numbers under control.
PRAGUE: The 23rd One World Festival, which takes place online from 10 May to 6 June 2021, announced that it will also organise screenings in summer and drive-in cinemas from 20 to 28 May 2021.
FESTIVALS: Ceau, Cinema! Festival 2021 Announces Physical Edition Focusing on Romanian Films
Romania 18-05-2021TIMISOARA: The 8th Ceau, Cinema! Festival, which will take place in Timisoara in a limited edition from 15 to 18 July 2021, will focus entirely on Romanian films inviting their directors to meet the audience after open-air screenings.
