PRODUCTION: Helen Mirren to star in István Szabó film
Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will play the main role in the film in The Door for Hungarian director István Szabó.
TVN to issue bonds
Polish commercial TV station TVN will issue 588 million euros in bonds, according to a November 5 statement.
Happiest Girl sold in four territories
The Happiest Girl in the World, the feature film debut from Romanian director Radu Jude has been sold to the UK, France, Hungary and Croatia.
PRODUCTION: Poland's Pawlikowski comes home to shoot
UK based Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski is returning to Poland to shoot Sister of Mercy in his native language.
US film studio moves into Hungary
Raleigh Studios, a California based company with studios in Baton Rouge, is opening a Budapest film studio comprised of nine sound stages in April, 2010.
Malta hosts TV productions
Two international TV productions are currently in Malta for filming: the popular, long-running TV series Rex and the US mini-series Moby Dick.
Eastern Plays screenings for Lux Prize
The European Parliament LUX Prize will begin screening of the Bulgarian/Swedish co-production Eastern Plays from director Kamen Kalev on November 10 in Brussels.
Kerekes win at Viennale
Slovak director Péter Kerekes has been awarded the Viennale's Vienna Film Prize for best documentary for Cooking History.
UPC drives Hungarian digitalization
UPC has become the leading provider of digital services in Hungary.
Grant support for TIFF-Cluj
Transilvania Film Festival TIFF Cluj-Napoca (www.tiff.ro) will get the biggest film festival grant from the National Centre for Cinema for 2010: 160,500 euro (690,000 RON).
PRODUCTION: Lidice sets filming dates
Lidice, a Czech-Polish war drama from director Alice Nellis, will begin shooting at the end of November, producer Adam Dvořák, head of production/distribution company Bioscop (www.bioscop.cz), announced.
Romanian film funding to decrease
The Romanian Cinema Fund might be reduced by 40% in 2010 due to a new law exempting casinos and gambling from contributing, along with a decrease in monies from TV…
Swedes buy Bulgarian cable companies
The Swedish investment fund EQT V (EQT) (www.eqt.dk) has paid €210 million for the acquisition of the two Bulgarian major cable operator, Eurocom (ekk.bg) and Cabletel (www.cabletel.bg).
Bulgarian police nab cable pirates
Bulgarian police have stopped the illegal broadcast of 90 cable TV channels operating out of the town of Karlovo.
Pitching for Euros in Jihlava
The cinemas may have been filled to capacity at the Jihlava documentary festival, but the hottest ticket was for a seat in the standing-room-only pitching session, East European Forum on…
M-Appeal picks up Slovenian Girl
M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to Slovenian Girl directed by Damjan Kozole (Spare Parts).
Czechs announce Elsa nominations
Former Czech First Lady Dagmar Havlova is among the nominees for the Elsa Awards, the Czech awards for excellence in TV broadcating, which will be announced on December 12.
Whistleblower begins filming at MediaPro Studios
The Whistelblower, Larysa Kondracki's feature debut starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave, David Straitharn and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, started filming at MediaPro Studios (www.mediaprostudios.com) in Bucharest on October 26.
Chameleon received EFP marketing support
Chameleon by Hungarian director Krisztina Goda is one of 26 films selected to receive film sales support by European Film Promotion (EFP) at the upcoming AFM.
Production: Animated Project Chopin in production
A Polish/British Oscar-winning animation team have started work on Project Chopin, the biggest European animation film of the year.
