CLUJ-NAPOCA: The 20th anniversary edition of the Transilvania IFF, scheduled for a summer run from 23 July to 1 August 2021, is restructuring and expa.
photo: Allfilm
TALLINN: The year 2020 was an extraordinary year for the Estonian film industry. The coronavirus pandemic had a devastating effect on the industry and cinema attendance all over Europe. However, on the positive side, the local market share of Estonian films rose to a record high, garnering 26.72% of the total number of cinema admissions. The per capita rate of cinema going in Estonia was still relatively healthy at 1.35.
The most watched film was Christopher Nolan’s
Tenet, which was partly filmed in Estonia. For most of the year, Estonia kept its cinemas open, with special security measures and conditions of keeping cinema halls half full.
New Horizons IFF Launches VOD Platform
WARSAW: The New Horizons IFF will launch New Horizons VOD in Poland on 26 February 2021 at nowehoryzonty.pl/vod. The platform is aimed at fans of film festivals and films awarded at European and world events.
New Horizons VOD was created following the success of the online edition of the 2020 New Horizons IFF festival.
The website will start with 216 films, which will include productions from the catalogue of Gutek Film and the New Horizons Association. The library also features the winning films of the last edition of the festival, shown in cinemas as part of special screenings, and unavailable elsewhere.
photo: Inforg-M&M Film
BUDAPEST: The year 2020 started as a good one. The National Film Institute – Hungary (NFI) was established in January 2020 as the successor of the Hungarian National Film Fund, and Barnabás Tóth s historical drama Those Who Remained / Akik maradtak, produced by Inforg-M&M Film, got on the short list in the Academy Awards International Feature Film category. The film didn t make it into the nominations list and with the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic the Hungarian film industry faced serious challenges.
Luckily, there was also good news. Kornel Mundruczó s first English language film Pieces of a Woman, produced by BRON Studios (Canada) in coproduction witth Little Lamb (Canada) and Proton Cinema (Hungary), was invited into the main competition of the Venice Film Festival, and it is among the Academy Awards 2021 contenders for a nomination in various categories.
MM Grupp Abandons Purchase of Forum Cinemas in Estonia
TALLINN: The Estonian Competition Authority announced on 19 February 2021 that MM Grupp OÜ’s purchase of Forum Cinemas OÜ has been broken off as the parties decided to abandon the transaction.
Tallinn-based MM Grupp is a large-scale investment company operating among other spheres in the media, real estate and entertainment business. In August 2020 it was announced that MM Grupp’s cinema chain Apollo Grupp would buy the cinemas belonging to Sweden’s Forum Cinemas.
Apollo Grupp operates 10 cinemas in Estonia, including four cinemas in Tallinn and two in the second-biggest town Tartu. In addition, MM Grupp has a strong position in film distribution. Forum Cinemas operates three cinemas in Estonia, including the Coca-Cola Plaza in Tallinn.