LJUBLJANA: The Italian director Ivan Gergolet has started shooting his first fiction feature Man Without a Guilt / Može brez krivde. The first phase of the shooting for this Slovenian/Italian/Croatian coproduction started in June 2021 and will last till the end of July. The second is planned for November 2021.

BELGRADE: The American/Serbian erotic thriller Personal Trainer by Stephen Riscica, starring Fanny Ardant, is currently scouting for locations in Serbia. It will be the first English-language LGBTQ+ production to be shot in Serbia and the Eastern Europe. The production plans to use the Serbian incentive scheme for foreign productions.

PRAGUE: The last part of the international coproduction Maria-Theresa, covering the last 20 years in the life of the empress, is currently in postproduction. The fifth feature long part was shot between 10 April and 3 June 2021, and it is set to premiere at the beginning of 2022.

WARSAW: Anna Kazejak has finished shooting her new comedy/drama Fucking Bornholm, starring Agnieszka Grochowska and Maciej Stuhr. The project will be presented in the prestigious New Horizons' Polish Days Goes to Cannes programme at the Marché du Film during the 74th Cannes IFF.

BRATISLAVA: The long animated film version of The Websters 3 / Websterovci 3 series by Katarína Kerekesová continues production, which started in March 2020. The Slovak/Czech coproduction is part of The Websters brand, which has already released 13 episodes and three books of stories.

BUDAPEST: The first part of the shooting of Heights and Depths / Magasságok és mélységek has been completed. Sándor Csoma's debut feature is about recovering from mourning and is based on real events, the tragedy of Zsolt Erőss, the most famous Hungarian mountaineer.

TALLINN: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, the first long documentary by Anna Hints, is currently in the editing phase. This Estonian/French/Icelandic coproduction has recently received production support from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

WARSAW: Polish director Maria Sadowska is currently shooting her new romantic comedy Love on the Front Page / Miłość na pierwszą stronę, which was commissioned by Polsat Group and is set to be released in cinemas in 2022. The film stars Olga Bołądź and Piotr Stramowski.

ZAKOPANE: Writer/director Maciej Kawalski is currently shooting his debut feature Dangerous Gentlemen, a costume crime drama starring Tomasz Kot, Marcin Dorociński, Andrzej Seweryn and Wojciech Mecwaldowski.

BELGRADE: The popular Serbian actor/producer Radoš Bajić is currently in production with his latest directorial feature film, the WWII epic The Heroes of Halyard / Heroji Halijarda. A TV series The Air Bridge / Vazdušni most is being shot at the same time, stemming from the same material and also directed by Radoš Bajić.

TBILISI: The Greek-born Oscar-nominated cinematographer/director Phedon Papamichael is currently in postproduction with the thriller Light Falls, which he shot during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown in Greece in 2020. The film is a Georgian/Albanian/Greek coproduction with Georgia’s EnkenyFilms involved in the project.

BRATISLAVA: The romantic comedy Just a Lot of Love / Hlavne veľa lásky by Slovak director Branislav Mišík, an adaptation of another bestseller by Evita Twardzik Urbaníková, is currently in production. NUNEZ NFE started shooting the film just a few days after finishing shooting another Urbaníková‘s adaptation, Till the Summer Comes / V lete ti poviem ako sa mám.

LJUBLJANA: Matej Vranič completed his long documentary Wild Slovenia / Divja Slovenija, which will be released in Slovenian arthouse cinemas by Fivia in September 2021. The film also has an English version.

SOFIA: The acclaimed Bulgarian filmmaker Stephan Komandarev is preparing his sixth feature film Hello, on low-income retirees in Bulgaria’s provinces. The project is so far a Bulgarian/German coproduction between Argo Film and 42 film, with the financial participation of Serbia’s EED productions.

RIGA: Latvian director Ivars Tontegode is currently shooting a teenage drama Anna LOL, produced by Mojo Raiser Production and KIB Kultivators. The film was supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia with a grant in the low-budget film competition from specific additional COVID-19 funding for the industry in 2020.

BUDAPEST: The historical adventure film Hadik by János Szikora, which is currently in preproduction, received 4.6 m EUR / 1.6 billion HUF from the National Film Institute – Hungary, one of the largest production grants ever allotted in Hungary. The film depicts the bold military maneuver of András Hadik, who occupied Berlin with his hussars in 1757.