PRAGUE: The Oscar-winning Czech director Jan Svěrák is in preproduction with Barefoot in a Stubble / Po strništi bos based on the book by his father Zdeněk Svěrák.

BUCHAREST: Director/producer Dinu Tănase (At the End of the Line, Studioul Cinematografic București) is in postproduction with Frozen Ignat (working title), a drama set to be released in spring 2017.

WARSAW: It's a wrap for Wojciech Smarzowski's new history drama Volyhnia set to premiere in October 2016.

SOFIA: Atanas Hristoskov’s low-budget second feature film Eighteen is in postproduction.

RIGA: The National Film Centre of Latvia has awarded 245,000 EUR to Juris Poskus’ new feature fiction film 24 Hr Sunshine / Saule spīd 24 stundas, an international coproduction between Latvia’s FA Filma and Norway’s Sweet Films.

WARSAW: Maria Sadowska is in production with The Art of Love, a biopic of Michalina Wisłocka, a famous Polish sexuologist who revolutionised the sex life of Poles.

WROCLAW: Shooting on the Polish/US fantasy film Valley of the Gods starring John Malkovich and directed by Lech Majewski begins on 18 May 2016 in Wroclaw.

PRAGUE: Prague sees the return of a controversial statue to a prominent spot in the city thanks to a new film from Czech TV. Shooting started on the TV film Monster directed by the renowned TV director Viktor Polesný. The film is based on a story by Rudla Cainer titled Granite Stalin.

TBILISI: LA-based director, Nick Agiashvili has been confirmed to direct the UK/Georgian co-production Shindisi, to be produced by Liberty Studio, 20 Steps and Lakumi in Georgia in partnership with UK’s Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME).

LJUBLJANA: Slovenian director Marko Naberšnik began filming his fourth feature film Slovenia, Australia and Tomorrow the World, a Slovenian/Macedonian coproduction, on 11 May 2016.

VILNIUS: The documentary El Padre Medico by director Vytautas Puidokas is in production. Principle photography began in March 2016 and will wrap in September.

PRAGUE: The Prague-based award-winning young Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu is developing his third film, Jackdaws on the Road, a Czech/Slovenian/Slovak coproduction. Omerzu is working once again with producer Jiří Konečný of endorfilm.

BRATISLAVA: Czech/Slovak coproduction The Angel of God 2, the sequel to director Jiří Strach’s 2005 fairy-tale comedy, is completing production in preparation for a Christmas holiday season theatrical and TV release.

BRATISLAVA: The new Slovak/Swedish animated series for children Vincent & Sheep is nearing the end of its Kickstarter campaign. The production is seeking 27,000 EUR.

LJUBLJANA: The Slovenian drama A Comedy of Tears by Marko Sosič is being readied to be presented at the Market of the Cannes Film Festival. “Basically the film is completed. We’re are just making the final picture and sound corrections,” producer Boštjan Ikovic told FNE.

PRAGUE: Acclaimed Czech New Wave filmmaker Jan Němec, the writer and director of the upcoming film The Wolf from the Royal Vineyard Street, died in March this year shortly before finishing his film. Now, the film, which had been shot and almost completely edited, has been turned over to his team, consisting mainly of former students from Prague’s FAMU film school, to take on the daunting task of finishing the film without him.