TrainEastFilm (www.traineastfilm.org) aims to become the first professional East European platform. It is sponsored by the newly-founded Romanian Film Sector Association (www.google.com/a/filmsector.org, site under construction), and developed together with the Independent Filmmakers' Association South Caucasus (www.ifasc.org.ge), ALTFilm (www.altfilm.md), International Film Festival Molodist (www.molodist.com), Film Studio Tanka (www.tanka.lv), and Ankara Cinema Association (www.festivalonwheels.org).

The trainers for 2009 are Luciano Gloor (Head of Studies, Berlin), Clare Downs (script consultant, London), Wolfgang Brehm (media lawyer, Berlin), Diana Butoeru (media lawyer, Bucharest), Esther van Messel (sales agent, Zurich/Berlin), Andrei Khalpakhchi (distributor, Kyiv), Guillaume de Seille (producer, Paris), Tudor Giurgiu (producer, Bucharest), and Nina Gogoladze (professional skills development trainer, Tbilisi).

The training is sponsored by the MEDIA Programme within the framework of MEDIA INTERNATIONAL Preparatory Action (ec.europa.eu), and the Romanian Film Centre (www.cncinema.abt.ro).

Applicants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine, and all East European EU countries are welcomed. The deadline for application is May, 31. The cost is €5,000. Scolarships are available.

Applicants should submit a feature project for fiction or documentary. Some experience in the filmmaking is required.

The training encompasses a preparation phase, the main residential worskhop (September, 20-26 plus two travel days, consisting in lectures, case studies, screenings and discussions), and an analysing phase.

"It is important for East European filmmakers to know with whom is easier for them to work, because the idea is to have as many coproductions as possible," Cătălin Leescu, the president of the Romanian Film Sector Association, told FNE.