Indian movies are expected to gain 8.5 billion rupees (US$213 million, EUR156 million) this year, an Indian minister said Wednesday. The market is growing by 18 percent annually, mainly because of the growing Indian diaspora around the world, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said in a statement in India's Parliament.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed to let Oscar-winning U.S. film director Oliver Stone make a documentary film about his life.

Great Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni died aged 94 in his native city of Ferrara late Monday, the Italian media reported Tuesday. The modernist film director received numerous awards and a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1994.

Remarkable Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, who died Monday aged 89, was one of the last masters of philosophical films, said Kirill Razlogov, director of the Institute of Cultural Studies and famous film critic.

Helen Hunt tries a new job: directing. "Then She Found Me," the filmmaking debut for the Academy Award-winning actress, will play at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Woody Allen hopes to create a portrait of the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona on par with his 1979 masterpiece "Manhattan."

The annual Moscow International Film Festival, first held in 1935, is the world's second-oldest film festival. In terms of seniority, it trails only the Venice Film Festival.

Serb film director Emir Kusturica presented his latest picture, Promise Me This, at the opening of the Moscow International Film Festival Thursday and promised that his next film would be shot in Russia.

Despite some filmgoers said censors' cuts of Chow Yun-Fat's role made "Pirates" difficult to follow, opening-week sales of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" in China have surpassed those of "Spiderman 3".

In the film world, China is "red hot." Japan is making a comeback, and Thailand has the scariest horror films around. But South Korea may be the biggest draw of all. Organizers of this year's Hawaii International Film Festival say they have a deep pool of talent for the event, which will showcase more than 150 feature films, documentaries, shorts and animations from across the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to draw some 70,000 people.

Throughout May, Ireland will see a whole series of events celebrating Italian culture. This film event consists of seven recent films including Martin Scorsese's epic tribute to Italian cinema, My Voyage to Italy.

Legendary movie actor Dilip Kumar will be honoured with the Phalke Ratna award for his services to the Indian film industry on 30th April, the 138th birth anniversary of Dadasaheb Phalke,the father of Indian cinema.