Polish director Andrzej Jakimowski is currently casting Flying Blind, his follow up to Tricks, in Germany, the UK and France for a spring shoot in Lisbon. The film is a co-production between KMBO (France), Filmes do Tejo (Portugal), ZAiR (Poland) and Film and Music Entertainment (UK).

When the Royal Film Commission of Jordan wanted to put Jordan on the map both as an international shooting location and to open a window of opportunity for local filmmakers they invited internationally known novelist and scriptwriter Mohydeen Quandour to Jordan. The result was the film Cherkess.

Director/writer Alex Rotaru is in development with his first feature film, The End of Rain, focusing on the culture clash and conflict between generations and inspired by his own experience as a Romanian imigrant in the United States. The film will be shot in English in the United States for 21 days in 2011.

Radu Gabrea (Gruber's Journey, The Beheaded Rooster) is currently in development with the long docu-drama The Last Days of Ceauşescu (planned for shooting starting February 2011) and is also developing a long feature based on the novel Lindenfeld by the Romanian writer Ioan T. Morar.

Prague-based Hungarian director Gyula Nemes is in preproduction with Zero, a mock-documentary stle "grotesque-anarchist drama" about the extinction of bees. The 1.8 million euro film is preparing for a mid-late 2011 shoot.

BUCHAREST: The Romanian filmmaker Radu Gabrea plans to begin preproduction in January 2011 on his long docu-drama The Last Days of Ceauşescu based on the script written by Grigore Cartianu, editor-in-chief at Adevărul daily and the author of the book The End of the Ceauşescus/Sfârşitul Ceauşeştilor.

BUCHAREST: Dragoş Iuga is in production with his first feature The Little Spartan/Micul spartan, a fantasy story told in mockumentary style for grown-up audiences and also for children, the director told FNE.

Film director and visual artist Lech Majewski is in production with Psie Pole (Dog Field). The film will be shot in the Silesia region through the end of November 2010. The 2.8 million PLN received 1 million PLN from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl).

One of the most popular Polish comic book characters comes to life in Jeż Jerzy (Jeż Jerzy: The Movie), an animated film now in postproduction. The premiere is planned for 18 March 2011, with distribution handled by Monolith Films (www.monolith.pl).

Polish director Przemysław Angerman is in postproduction with Integration Trip, a light comedy about the life of corporate employees. Shooting took place 13 - 27 October 2010 in Rawa Mazowiecka. The comedy is produced by Filmcontract Ltd (www.filmcontract.pl) in co-operation with Telekomunikacja Polska (www.tp.pl). The budget is 4.4 million PLN (EEUR 1.1 million), with 1.5 million PLN funding from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl).

Polish director Marek Koterski is preparing for the second part of the shoot for his new comedy Women Are Somehow Different. The first part of the shoot took place mainly in Łódź in October 2010, and the production of the film will last until the beginning of 2011.

After a month of filming, the Polish history drama Daas will wrap shooting on 27 November. The film is expected to be completed in time for the Gdynia national film festival scheduled for May 2011.

Romanian director Adrian Popovici (Dracula The Impaler, Eva) is in post-production with a Romanian-Moldavian co-production, Looking For A Mother /Se caută o mamă. A tentative premiere date is planned for autumn 2011.

Director Davis Simanis and producer Liga Gaisa are in development with a Latvian full-length documentary, Escaping Riga, a "docu-fiction" about Riga-born film director Sergei Eisenstein who emigrated to Russia and philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin who immigrated to England. The film, produced by Mistrus Media (www.mistrusmedia.lv) looks at their early childhood friendship and their final meeting after WWII.

BUCHAREST: The Italian documentary and short film directors Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio are in Bucharest for the final stage of the casting the lead actress of their first feature, Seven Acts of Mercy/Sette opere di misericordia, an Italian/Romanian coproduction. The contemporary drama of redemption is set against the social backdrop of the immigrant situation in Italy.

Director/screenwriter Radu Jude is currently in post-production with a low-budget 60-minute film A Film for Friends/Film pentru prieteni which he produced and self-financed. Jude, whose first feature The Happiest Girl In The World/Cea mai fericită fată din lume was awarded with C.I.C.A.E. Award at the Berlinale 2009, told FNE that the film focuses on a man who, prior to take his life, tapes a video testament to his unfaithful friends.