Malta pushes for sound stages
Malta's film commissioner is promoting private investment in sound stages and expanding the country's reach for international film production.
Antenna Hungaria wins 12-year digital licences
Hungary's National Communications Authority (NHH, www.nhh.hu) awarded a 12-year digital (terrestrial) broadcasting licence to French-owned Antenna Hungaria Rt. (AH, www.ahrt.hu), NHH announced on July 25.
Sas sets sights on Stars of Eger
Tamas Sas will direct Stars of Eger, based on Geza Gardonyi's 1899 novel voted the most popular book in Hungary in 2005.
Prima Primavera near completion
The English-Hungarian-Dutch-Bulgarian coproduction Prima Primavera (www.primaprimavera.com) is in postproduction, director Janos Edelenyi told FNE.
Palace Cinemas offers live HD broadcast in Budapest multiplex
In an effort to beat the summer doldrums with creative solutions, Palace Cinemas (www.palacecinemas.hu) is offering live high-definition broadcasts of Formula One (www.formula1.com) races.
Hungarian public broadcaster MTV lays off 86 staff
As part of a wide-scale restructuring, the 1700-staffer Hungarian state broadcaster Magyar Televizio (MTV, www.mtv.hu) will lay off 86 people in August, following last week's agreement with the employees' union.
Rain of Children wins at Poland's Era New Horizons
Rain of the Children, an intimate docufiction directed by Vincent Ward, the famous filmmaker from New Zealand, has won the Grand Prix at the eight International ERA NEW HORIZONS Film…
Cyprus festival profile on the rise
Cyprus Film Days International Film Festival is looking at an expanded 4th edition next year with a higher profile.
Latvian TV Song and Dance Festival draws 1 million viewers
Almost 1.1 million viewers watched the July 5-12 Latvian Song and Dance Festival broadcast on LTV, the Latvian public broadcasting station.
New home for Czech National Film Archive
The Czech government decided on July 23 to construct a new building to house the Czech National Film Archive (NFA). Construction could begin as late as 2013.
Nu Image and Nu Boyana bring Hollywood to Bulgaria
The 4th Kind and Command Performance are keeping locally based production companies Nu Boyana film studio, Millenium Films, Nu Image, and producer Gold Circle Films busy with action thrillers this…
Polsat to sell 53% of shares to Cyprus firms
Cyprus based companies Karswel Ltd. and Sensor Oversear Ltd. will purchase controlling interest in Polish commercial TV network Polsat.
Italians shoot Lithuanian documentary
Italian journalists Blasco Marotta and Maria Cristina di Toto are in Lithuania through July 27 to film a documentary aimed at attracting visitors to the Baltic state.
Elion cable subscribers up 58%
Eesti Telekom's Elion announced IPTV and cable TV subscribers rose by 58%, to 67,700 at the end of the second quarter of 2008.
Poland, Estonia pick up Tibet documentary
C4i, owned by Digital Right Group, announced that the documentary Undercover in Tibethas been sold to Polish TV and Estonian TV,
France Telecom introduces a new satellite platform to the Polish market
The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the new satellite platform from Polish Telecommunication S.A. (TP www.tp.pl), owned by the international join-stock company France Telecom (www.francetelecom.com),will launch in the first…
Correction
The head of PTV's Film Agency was incorrectly identified in a story on Polish TV's new film funding structure. The correct name is Sawomir Jozwik. FNE regrets the error.
Protector announces film start and cast
Director Marek Najbrt‘s CZK62 million (€2.6 million) Protector, one of the most anticipated Czech films of 2009, will start filming in early September.
Bathory draws 200,000 viewers in 2 weeks
The big-budget €11 million Czech-Slovak-Hungarian-British co-production Bathory by director Juraj Jakubisko hit a Czech domestic record in attendance since its opening on July 10.
Andrzej Munk Studio starts script recruitment
Newly launched Andrzej Munk Stufio, a joint project of The Polish Filmmakers Association (PFA), the Polish Film Institute,the Ministry of Culture and Polish public broadcaster TVP, announced it is ready…
