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2006

Australia

4/1 -

An international group of actors, directors, producers and investors, assembled by Bangkok-based investment company Mullis Capital Independent, announces its intention to create a new major Australian film studio aimed at producing big budget blockbusters. [MORE] [ADD]

Canada

12/9 -

Newmarket Films purchase the U.S. distribution rights from producer-director Gabriel Range for his controversial documentary-style Death of a President, which depicts the assassination of President George W. Bush.    [MORE] [ADD]

16/9 - 

Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde’s romantic drama Bella wins the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD]

19/12 -

The Toronto Film Critics Association votes Stephen Frears’ The Queen the best picture of 2006. [MORE] [ADD]

China

15/2 -

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television bans films and TV shows featuring live humans together with animated figures, stating that such films endanger ‘the broadcast order of homemade animation and mislead their development.’  [MORE] [ADD]

5/9 -

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television bans award-winning director Lou Ye from making films for five years after he premiered his latest film Summer Palace at the Cannes Film Festival last May without government permission.   The film includes footage from the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration. [MORE] [ADD]

Denmark

24/2 -

Susanne Bier’s Efter Brylluppet (After the Wedding) is released.   Mads Mikkelsen, Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas all feature. [MORE] [ADD]

Finland

19/10 -

Director Aki Kaurismaki asks the Finnish Film Institute to withdraw his  Laitakaupungin valot (Lights in the Dusk) from competition for the best foreign language film Oscar. [MORE] [ADD]

Germany

18/2 -

Jasmila Zbanic’s low-budget Grbavica wins the Golden Bear for best film at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD]

– Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) receives a record 11 nominations for the German Film Awards.  [MORE]

India

2/3 -

Jayaraj's Atbhutam (Wonder), a 74-minute film based on the right-to-die battle of Terri Schiavo in the United States, is made in 2 hours and 14 minutes.   The record-breaking attempt is forwarded to the Guinness Book of World Records. [MORE] [ADD]

Italy

30/8 -

Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia premieres as the opening film at this year’s Venice Film Festival.   The film, based on the James Ellroy novel about the murder of Elizabeth Short in 1946, stars Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank. [MORE] [ADD]

9/9 -

Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke’s Sanxia Haoren (Still Life) wins the Golden Lion award at this year’s Venice Film Festival.   Helen Mirren wins best actress for her performance in The Queen. [MORE] [ADD]

12/10 -

Nicole Kidman opens Rome's first international film festival [MORE] [ADD]

21/10 -

Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Playing the Victim wins the Best Film Award at the first Rome International Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD]

26/11 -

Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity Story becomes the first feature film to have its premiere in Vatican City. [MORE] [ADD]

Japan

13/4 -

NTT Communications Corp adds seven different smells to parts of The New World when it opens in Tokyo, to be emitted under cinema seats.   A $620 home version that can be synchronised with DVDs is also planned.  [MORE] [ADD]

Poland

2/12 -

Director Roman Polanski is honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 19th annual European Film Awards in Warsaw. The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) wins the festival’s best picture award. [MORE] [ADD]

Romania

24/8 -

27-year-old film director Cristian Nemescu and Andrei Toncui, the sound man on Nemescu’s latest film, California Dreamin’ (Nesfarsit) both die in a car crash on the Eroilor Bridge in Bucharest. [MORE] [ADD]

Samoa

– Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code is banned from Samoa’s cinemas and from distribution on video or DVD after objections from the Samoa Council of Churches who believe it will ‘affect the belief of young people whose faith is not strong.  [MORE] [ADD]

Saudi Arabia

Jan -

Leading Wahhabi cleric Salman al-Odeh suggests on the Saudi entertainment channel MBC that cinema, which has been banned from public screenings since the 70s, deserved support because it could be used to promote Islam. [MORE] [ADD]

Somalia

Sep -

After the United Islamic Courts (UIC) decree that entertainment activities such as going to the cinema are prohibited, UIC gunmen allegedly storm cinemas and arrest the audience. [MORE] [ADD]

Spain

10/3 -

Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver starring Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre, and Carlos Blanco premieres at Puertollano. [MORE] [ADD]

Thailand

30/11 -

In the wake of last September's military coup, the Tourism Authority of Thailand advises Film Festival Management Inc. of Beverly Hills, the US management company of the Bangkok Film Festival that it is cutting its ties with them.   The budget for the festival is slashed by $1.1 million. [MORE] [ADD]

– Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Sang Sattawat (Syndromes and a Century) is banned when the director refuses to remove scenes objected to by the country’s censors.   [MORE] [ADD]

Other Films of Note

China

Ye yan (The Banquet) (Ziaogang Feng) [MORE] [ADD]

Dominican Republic

Un macho de mujer (Alfonso Rodriguez) [MORE] [ADD]

Great Britain

The Queen (Stephen Frears) [MORE] [ADD]

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Mike Leigh) [MORE] [ADD]

Macedonia

Karaula (The Border Post) (Rajko Grlic) [MORE] [ADD]

Tajnata kniga (The Secret Book) (Vlado Cvetanovski) [MORE] [ADD]

Malaysia

Cicak Man (Yusry) [MORE] [ADD]

Lelaki Komunis Terahkir (The Last Communist) (Amir Muhammad) [MORE] [ADD]

Mo shi mo wang (Love Conquers All) (Tan Chui Mui) [MORE] [ADD]

Nepal

Krodh (Akash Adhikari) [MORE] [ADD]

Philippines

Todo todo teros (John Torres) [MORE] [ADD]

Romania

A fost sau n-a fost? (12:08 East of Bucharest) (Corneliu Porumboiu) [MORE] [ADD]

Cum mi-am petrecut sfarsitul lumii (How I Celebrated the End of the World) (Catalin Mitulescu) [MORE] [ADD]

Legaturi bolnavicioase (Love Sick) (Tudor Giurgiu) [MORE] [ADD]

Taiwan

Qiji de xiatian (My Football Summer) (Rong-ji Chang, Li-chou Yang) [MORE] [ADD]

Sheng xia guang nian (Eternal Summer) (Leste Chen) [MORE] [ADD]