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.
VILNIUS: The Serbian documentary Rampart directed by Marko Grba Singh has been awarded Best European Debut at the Vilnius Kino Pavasaris International Film Festival, which took place 24 March - 3 April 2022.
BUDAPEST: The Hungarian spy drama series The Informant / A besúgó, written and directed by Bálint Szentgyörgyi, was released in 61 countries worldwide on HBO Max on 1 April 2022.
ISTANBUL: The Istanbul International Film Festival has announced the programme of its 41st edition, which will take place 8-19 April 2022.
WIESBADEN: Fourteen titles have been selected for the International Competition of the 22nd edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, hosted by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum from 19 to 25 April in Wiesbaden and the Rhine-Main region.
The East Doc Platform Award went to the Polish project The World is not (a) Mine by Natalia Koniarz about inhabitants working in inhuman conditions mining metals on the Cerro Rico mountain.
