TVP Cuts Ad Rates
WARSAW: Polish public broadcaster TVP has cut its advertising rates for February by 20%, due to changes in its pricing strategy.
Dark Polish Comedy has a Record Opening
WARSAW: Weekend, a dark gangster comedy directed by Cezary Pazura, hit a new Polish record opening weekend with 275,000 admissions. The film is the directing debut of Pazura, a Polish…
PRODUCTION: Touch Me Not in development
BUCHAREST: Writer/ director Adina Pintile is developing her first feature film, Touch Me Not, a study of the human longing for contact, with three a woman and two men fighting…
FESTIVALS: Poland, Hungary, Turkey win Berlinale Competition slots
Hungary, Poland and Turkey are among the 19 countries represented in the 22-film Berlinale competition line-up. The festival (www.berlinale.de) runs 10-20 February 2011.
New Exhibitor Enters Polish Market
WARSAW: Cinema 3D has entered the Polish market with the opening of a new cinema in Lower Silesia.
TVP 2 Renews License to Parent
WARSAW: The second channel of the Polish Public Television (TVP), TVP2, has commissioned a third season of the comedy series License to Parent produced by ATM Grupa.
Art House Cinemas Protest Funding Crisis in Hungary
BUDAPEST: Hungary is facing the closure of as many as half of its art house cinemas in the next year, following the government reduction in funding for film industry activities.…
Vajna Appointed to Top Hungarian Film Post
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán named Hungarian-born film producer Andrew G. Vajna as the government commissioner for the film industry starting from 18 January 2011. Vajna will hold the…
Green Light for New Romanian Channels
BUCHAREST: Four new television channels have received licences from the National Audiovisual Council of Romania (www.cna.ro).
HBO Launches VOD in Poland
WARSAW: HBO Central Europe has announced the launch of HBO GO. its first video on demand service in Central and Eastern Europe, in Poland.
Glass Tiger 3 Finds Box Office Success
BUDAPEST: Glass Tiger 3, which opened in Hungarian cinemas in December 2010, sold 227,000 tickets in four weeks. A comedy is about a bunch of friends in the country trying…
FESTIVALS: Hungarian Film Week Considers April Date
BUDAPEST: The 2011 Hungarian Film Week (www.hungarianfilmweek.com) is planned for April in a new scaled down, low-budget version of the event. The HFW has traditionally held at the end of…
Product Placement Banned in Poland
The Polish government has introduced new regulations for advertising and product placement in the public media. The new public media bill was created in order for Poland to meet the…
FESTIVALS: Cyprus Announces International Festival Competition
The Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture announced that the 9th Cyprus Film Days - International Film Festival 2011, co-organised with the Rialto Theatre, has been upgraded to an international…
Bulgaria Downsizes Day of National Cinema
Bulgaria's Day of National Cinema, held on 13 January 2011, was a quieter event due to the funding difficulties the film industry faced over the past year. Taking place in…
FNE DocBloc: 15 Young By Young
Produced by Dzintars Dreibergs, Ilona Bicevska (Estonia, Latvia)Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed - the largest country in the world, the symbol of Communism. Fifteen republics that were part…
Bulgarian DTT Tender Under Fire
Bulgaria's contested tender for DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) multiplexes could be declared void by the European Commission. The Austrian Broadcasting Services, Oesterreichischer Rundfunksender (www.ors.at) , the original frontrunner, eventually withdrew…
Malta Considers Stricter Film Permit Conditions
Following damage to an environmentally sensitive zone during a film production shoot, Malta is considering stricter conditions for filming permits based upon the historical and ecological nature of the sites…
Malta Plans Audiovisual Training Initiative
The Malta Film Commission and the government's Cultural and Audiovisual Unit are offering a training initiative for the audiovisual sector in early 2011.
TEO LT Announces $125 Million Investment
Lithuanian telecom company TEO LT has announced plans to invest over LTL 325 million ($125 million) in next-generation services in Lithuania in 2011. TEO LT (www.teo.lt) is the country's largest…
