Andrzej Wajda's powerful film Katyń will represent Poland at the Academy Awards, according to a special committee of film professionals that chose the film this weekend from 16 candidates.
The managers of one of Prague's oldest cinemas are using a unique strategy to help foot the costs of renovation. Kino Svetozor (www.kinosvetozor), which opened in 1918, has launched an "adopt-a-seat" programe to help prepare it for its 90th anniversary next year.
The Hungarian brothers who invented the DI color manipulation system used in many Hollywood blockbusters have announced the launch of Colorfront (www.colorfront.com), a state-of-the-art DI and visual effects post-production facility in Budapest.
Russian box office is set to more than double in the next five years according to a survey by the U.K.-based cinema industry analysts Dodona Research (www.dodona.co.uk). That compares with research released in August in which Dodona predicted admissions in Central Europe will rise by 25% in the next five years
A special showing of Andrzej Wajda's landmark film Katyń will be screened today as part of the grand opening of the 32nd Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Poland's most prestigious festival runs through Sept. 22.
Four feature films have been completed or are winding up production on Malta. The neighbouring island of Gozo also saw some summer activity when the long-running UK series Coronation Street shot there for a week.
Empties, a poignant Czech comedy directed by Jan Svěrák, will be on the programme of the Times BFI 51st London Film Festival which opens Oct. 17.
The Polish Film Institute, whose mission is to support the country's film industry, is co-financing Time to Die, a tale of an elderly woman's struggle in communist Poland, at the Toronto International Film Festival where it was screened Thursday.
Films backed by the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.org) won seven awards at the recent Venice Biennale. Paul Laverty won the Osella prize among the official awards for best screenplay in It's a Free World directed by Ken Loach and co-produced by PFI.
The Smecky Recording Studio, part of the Barrandov Studios complex in Prague, has wound up taping the music for the new animated megafilm The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, the second feature-length film in the VeggieTales series.
