VILNIUS: The second edition of the Baltic short film script development residency Baltic Shorts Residency has announced the selection of three short film projects from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
ZAGREB: The first Croatian on demand subscriber platform Svevid has started operations in early May via the website www.svevid.net . It was created by a Zagreb company.
The first deadline for East Silver Market is 31 May 2020.
Full information on projects participating in the 14th edition of ScripTeast follows:
BUCHAREST: More than 230 Romanian film companies, 20 film associations and 35 filmmakers have come up with a plan for saving the local film industry from breakdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are appealing to the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finances, Economy and Culture to declare a Cultural Emergency Situation in Romania.
FESTIVALS: Komandarev Wins goEast with Bulgarian/Serbian/French Coproduction Rounds
Region 13-05-2020WIESBADEN: The Bulgarian/Serbian/French coproduction Rounds directed by Stephan Komandarev won the main prize of the 20th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Cinema in Wiesbaden. Karolis Kaupinis won Best Director for Nova Lituania. The festival took place 6 – 11 May 2020.
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 - EU response
04/05: COVID-19: Save European culture and values, MEPs tell Commission – European Parliament
In their discussion with Commissioners Mariya Gabriel and Thierry Breton, Culture and Education Committee MEPs stressed that the damage to the cultural and creative sector – especially for small businesses and individual actors – meant “more than just jobs being lost”. Rebuilding the hard-hit cultural and media sectors in post-COVID-19 Europe must be a major objective in the EU’s recovery plan.
04/05: Long-term EU budget: MEPs demand safety net for beneficiaries – European Parliament
The current health crisis compels us to tackle the risk of the next long-term EU budget not coming into force on 1 January 2021 with even more urgency, MEPs say.
06/05: Sassoli to EU institutions: “Be brave on EU recovery plan” – European Parliament
Statement by President Sassoli on the EU recovery plan, which will be anchored to the next Multiannual EU budget
05/05: Recovery plan and demographic challenges in the spotlight at the meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers – EU 2020 HR
EU Employment and Social Policy Ministers discussed the economic recovery plan and the demographic challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the videoconference organised by the Croatian Presidency.
05/05: COVID-19: Council greenlights €3 billion assistance package to support neighbouring partners – Council of the EU
The EU ambassadors endorsed a Commission proposal to provide up to 3 billion euros of macro-financial assistance to ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners to help them cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
07/05: Main results of the EU-Western Balkans Zagreb summit – EU 2020 HR
EU leaders agreed on the Zagreb declaration, which focused on the future relations and cooperation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
04/05: Eurogroup President on Europe's economic recovery – interview with five European papers – Council of the EU
EU Spring Economic Forecast
06/05: Spring 2020 Economic Forecast: A deep and uneven recession, an uncertain recovery – European Commission
Growth projections for the EU and euro area have been revised down by around nine percentage points compared to the Autumn 2019 Economic Forecast.
Remarks from Commissioner Gentiloni available here.
Digital Services Act (DSA)
/05: Reform of the EU liability regime for online intermediaries: Background on the forthcoming digital services act – European Parliament Research Service
/04: Study requested by IMCO: New aspects and challenges in consumer protection – Digital services and artificial intelligence – European Parliament
30/04: Making the Digital Services Act work for consumers: BEUC’s recommendations - BEUC
Events
May: Commission to present Coronavirus recovery plan (delayed)
Mid-May: EU consultation on Digital Services Act postponed
13-15 May: European Parliament Plenary
18 May: Commissioner Breton takes part in European Parliament IMCO meeting
15 July: Postponed CJEU opinion on the YouTube copyright case
The current edition of our post-production program Editing Room has started in February 2020 by taking in MIDPOINT alumni project Lost in Paradise by the writer and director Fiona Ziegler (CZ/CH).
Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (BSD) is the most important documentary training and pitching event in the Baltic countries, taking place in Riga, Latvia. The 24th edition is scheduled to take place from 1 – 6 September. The call for projects is open now and will close on 8 June.
