International film festivals are here in force at the Berlinale to not only scout for new films but also to make announcements on upcoming special projects. Here are a few that have made the headlines here in Berlin.      BEIJING INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL LAUNCHES Beijing, the Chinese capital, now will have its own film event with the launching of the 1st Beijing International Film Festival, set for April 23-28, 2011. The Festival organization took an office at the M...

JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1955, Karel Zeman) The eyes of the film industry are pointing east this week as the Zlin Film Festival kicks off its 50th anniversary celebrations in the UNESCO heritage city in the Moravia district of eastern Czech Republic. A mix of filmmmakers, programmers, distributors, critics and journalists have come from Europe, North America, Asia and beyond to participate in this year's event, the largest devoted to children and youth cinema (with many ad...

  As the Cannes Film Festival winds down and media professionals leave en masse for home (if their airplanes are not delayed by volcanic ash or French airline strikes), 500 miles to the northeast in the Czech Republic, the Zlin Film Festival is revving up for its 50th anniversary celebrations that begin next weekend. In the world of film festivals, the celebration of film never seems to end. The Zlin Film Festival, one of the oldest film events in the world, has been planning its 50...

The Berlinale, because of its history and Berlin's geographic location as the nexus between Western and Eastern Europe, has become an important place for Eastern European organizations to make announcements and for Eastern European films to be showcased. One of the oldest film festivals in Europe, Film Festival Zlin in the Czech Republic, will kick off its 50th anniversary celebration in Berlin on Tuesday evening, 16 February with a cocktail reception at the Czech Republic Embassy...