Too much politics on the box? If you have ever felt that politicians get a little too much exposure on TV screens, especially in the run up to elections, you will understand why there's been a call for a one-day TV walkout in Italy, where elections are held with great frequency as governments fall, one by one..

The BBC is to up its film budget from £10m to £15m a year and teaming up with the UK Film Council in an attempt to help make more British films.

Bollywood and the Roman Catholic Church in India have jointly produced a commercial film highlighting the problem of Aids. The controversial film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, whose films are known for steamy, bold scenes, has helped with the production.

Britain's film industry is facing a better future according to UK Film Council chief executive John Woodward: “It's true the film production sector has gone through a very bumpy patch over the last 18 months, but we are now poised to reap the rewards - with nothing to fear except the British disease of talking ourselves down.”

Favourite family films are so dominated by male characters, they leave children with an impression that girls are not as important as boys, Hollywood star Geena Davis has claimed.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present Gary Demos with an award honoring his technological contributions to the motion picture industry.

Moira Shearer, the ballerina and actress whose debut film, The Red Shoes, created an international sensation in 1948, has died. The wife of fellow Scot, author and campaigner Ludovik Kennedy, she was 80.

Outspoken Hollywood director Mike Figgis has told indie filmmaker organisation Shooting People that they represent the way forward in filmmaking. He went on to ilustrate how the UK film bottleneck could be made easier at a stroke by doubling the number of distributors. Figgis, a patron of Shooting People, was speaking at a recent gathering of Shooters in London, where he told them just what…

Kenya has charged four men with attempted robbery during an incident in which a British film maker was shot and killed.