The American cult screenwriter Barry Gifford (Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, City of Ghosts) plays a small part in The Phantom Father, the first feature from Lucian Georgescu, based on Gifford's story.

Cannes and Berlin awarded Romanian director Cristi Puiu is in production with his third feature, Aurora, a crime story with the director playing the lead role himself.

Director, scriptwriter, master of parody and trifle, and occasional actor Tomáš Vorel will finish an eight week shoot on his new film To Catch a Billionaire (Jak ulovit miliardáře) in late May.

The Hungarian-British co-production Colorado Kid, the debut feature from film critic Andras Vagvolgyi B, has moved into postproductionin England.

Cătălin Mitulescu is in pre-production with A Heart Shape Balloon (Un balon în formă de inimă), his second feature after the acclaimed debut How I Celebrated the End of the World (http://www.sfarsitullumii.ro/).

Father and son Jerzy and Maciej Stuhr will appear in Mystification, a film about the mysterious "supposed" death of Polish artist Stanisław "Witkacy" Witkiewicz.

Low-budget Slovak horror film Death Factory: First Blood (Fabrika smrti: mlada krv) began filming April 7.

Trick, a new Polish crime feature from director Jan Hryniak, moves into production in May 2009.

Cannes, Berlin, and Venice winner Marta Meszaros has finished shooting Hope, her first film since 2004's The Unburied Man, producer Erika Tarr told FNE.

Director Robert Koltai (Colossal Sensation, Train Keeps a Rollin') is in preproduction with Magic Boys, an international co-production starring Michael Madsen and Adrian Paul.

A documentary about the tragic death of well-known handball player Marian Cozma is being filmed in Hungary, producer Gabor Kalomista told FNE.

Daniel Erdelyi's second feature film, Security, is in preproduction, the director told FNE, with filming planned for the first half of 2010.