Hungarian director Ferenc. Török's film Istanbul, the story of a middle aged woman who is abandoned by her husband, begins filming in Istanbul July 12 for a 13 day shoot. Production continues in Budapest on August 2 for 17 days. The film is to be completed by the end of 2010.

Will, a co-production of England's Strangelove Films and Turkey's Galata Film, directed by Ellen Perry, has completed its Turkish shoot.

Gastarbeiter, the new film from director Yusup Razykov who set a distinctive style for new Uzbek cinema, is a contemporary roadmovie connecting Uzbekistan and Russia through a variety of characters, including an old war veteran who traveling to Moscow to find his nephew. The film also journey through the complex situation of the post-Soviet countries where corruption and crime are perpetrated by mafia gangs.

Romanian director Andrei Zincă is in pre-production with Puzzle for a Blind Man, an adaptation of Argentinian playwright Mario Diament's Blind Date.

Ostavljeni (The Abandoned) directed by Bosnian director Adis Bakrac has its world premiere in Karlovy Vary's East of the West section. The film is a coproduction between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and France.

Director Krisztina Goda (Children of Glory, Just Sex and Nothing Else) has received a declaration of intent for funding from the Hungarian Motion Picture Association (MMKA - http://english.mmka.hu/) for the first Hungarian 3D movie, Emerson and Co. (Emerson és Tsa). The film is an adaptation of a children's story written by Levente Lezsák.

The Dreamers (Zoufalci) was a surprise critical success in autumn 2009 in the Czech Republic. A story about six former class-mates in their early 30's who are drifting and decide to change their problematic lifestyle was the feature debut and diploma movie for director Jitka Rudolfová at FAMU film academy in Prague (www.famu.cz).

Hungarian director János Szász will be taking on an English speaking project with working title Goodbye Komárom.

In the last session of financing for 2010, the Polish Film Institute announced funding for debuts, veteran filmmakers, and several international co-productions.

Johannes Naber, one of the scriptwriters of Philipp Stölzl's North Face (2008) and director of several documentaries and TV shorts, makes his feature directing debut with The Albanian, the story of an illegal immigrant living in Germany. Naber, who studied philosophy and philology in Berlin and documentary directing in Ludwigsburg, worked in TV productions as gaffer and developed a serious interest in illegal immigration in Germany.

Jerzy Hoffman has begun filming The Battle Of Warsaw 1920, one of the biggest Polish film projects of the last decade and the first with full 3D technology.

Hungarian director János Szász is preparing for his new film, an adaptation of Le Grand Cahier (The Notebook), a novel by Agota Kristof.

Recognized as talented Serbian scriptwriter (The Trap, 2007, Love and Other Crimes, 2008) and original film director (The Red Colored Grey Truck, 2004) the Sarajevo born Srđan Koljevićgave his second feature the peculiar title The Woman with a Broken Nose.

With his first feature, Dolls/Kuklalar, Chingiz F. Rasulzadeh returns to a period 20 years earlier in his home country of Azerbaijan, before the fall of the Soviet Union. He follows several young men working at a seaside park disguised as famous characters (such as Mickey Mouse) as they try to cope with the changes in the society and their own growing up in the process.

Czech director and cinematographer F.A. Brabec, (Kytice, 2000, Bolero, 2004, May 2008) has begun shooting his latest film Under the Duvet (V peřinách ), which he calls "the first 3D feature length fantasy musical." Produced by Hollywood Classic Entertainment (www.hce.cz), Under the Duvet is scheduled for a March 2011 release.

Aurora, Cristi's Puiu tale of murders, is the second in his project Six Stories From the Outskirts of Bucharest, which began with the acclaimed The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu in 2005. Following that black comedy, the Romanian helmer returns with the dark story of a recently divorced father of two wandering through Bucharest and trying to put an end to his nervousness.