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1980

Africa

– The Inter-African Consortium of Cinematograph Distribution (CIDC) buys out the near total monopoly of film distribution in Africa from a subsidiary of French distributor UGC.  [MORE] [ADD}

Australia

– The government offers tax benefits to film investors, thus transferring the financial burden of film production.   The result is a doubling of the number of films financed. [MORE] [ADD}

Burundi

– Jean-Michel Hussi Nyamusimba’s short film, Ni-Ni, the first produced in the country, is released. [MORE] [ADD}

West Germany

29/12 -

The last 13 episodes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 26-episode Berlin Alexanderplatz are broadcast on German television.   Gunter Lamprecht, Barbara Sukowa and Hanna Schygulla star. [MORE] [ADD}

Hong Kong

– Tsui Hark’s Dangerous Encounters – First Kind is banned for its scenes reminiscent of the 1967 riots.   The film is eventually released after re-shooting and re-editing. [MORE] [ADD}

India

18/4 -

The FFC and Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation merge to form the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). [MORE] [ADD}

24/7 -

Bengali actor Uttam Kumar, veteran of more than 120 films, dies of a heart attack in Kolkata at the age of 53. [MORE] [ADD}

– K. S. Karanth’s Report of the Working Group on National Film Policy is ignored by the government.  [MORE] [ADD}

– Satyajit Ray declines an offer to head the newly-formed Forum for Better Cinema begun by independent film-makers. [MORE] [ADD}

– Film lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi dies.  [MORE] [ADD}

Iraq

7/2 -

The Iraqi government creates the Babylone production company by merging private and public sectors of the industry. [MORE] [ADD}

Italy

28/3 -

Federico Fellini’s new film, La Città delle donne (City of Women), which deals with feminism and the emancipation of women, is released.   Marcello Mastroianni and Bernice Stegers star. [MORE] [ADD}

5/9 -

Atlantic City, Louis Malle’s third American film, and John Cassavetes’ Gloria, in which Cassavetes’ wife Gena Rowlands takes the title role, share the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD}

Japan

– Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha is released.  At US$6m, it is the most expensive movie ever produced in Japan, and the first to be invested in and financed by a foreign company. [MORE] [ADD}

Pakistan

– Film production drops from a total of 98 in 1979 to 58 in 1980 following a new registration law which requires all film directors to be degree holders.  [MORE] [ADD}

Poland

24/3 -

John Gielgud stars in the title role of Andrzej Wajda's Dyrygent (The Conductor), as a conductor who returns to his birthplace in Poland after 50 years in the States. [MORE] [ADD}

Serbia

1/1 -

Slobodan Sijan’s Ko to tamo peva (Who’s Singing Over There?) is released.   In 1996, the Yugoslavian Board of the Academy of Film Art and Science (AFUN) voted this movie as the best Serbian movie made in the 1947-1995 period. [MORE] [ADD}

Spain

– A quota system on film imports is introduced. [MORE] [ADD}

Vietnam

– The Vietnam Film School merges with the Vietnam School of Stage Arts to become the Ha Noi University of Theatre and Cinema.  [MORE] [ADD}

Zaire

21/2 -

Head of state General Mobutu nationalises Cofilmex, a distribution company financed from Belgium. [MORE] [ADD}