Say Myanmar and most people will think of its military junta, the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi and the problems of a country led by an oppressive regime. But three young skateboarding filmmakers from the United Kingdom headed out there in 2009 to film "Burma behind the headlines."

More Hollywood films are opening outside the United States, a reflection of the growing importance of the international market to the world’s major studios. A new film trade event, ScreenSingapore, is designed to capitalize on the trend by offering the studios a springboard to Asian filmgoers.

For the first time in its history, the Cannes Film Festival is honoring a “guest country”, Egypt, following its revolution. The organizers’ decision to celebrate Egypt’s political shift points to the dual identity of France’s most famous film festival.

The government is launching a new initiative to bring Malaysian TV and film projects to the world. As local productions have increased and the country has become a prominent location double for other Asian countries, it is investing in efforts to increase Malaysia’s international presence.

While on a visit to Israel to collect a million-dollar award from Tel Aviv University, American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen said that they did not believe that boycotting Israel would solve political problems. The brothers' Jewish heritage is on display in a number of their films, most obviously in 'A Serious Man'.

Cannes celebrated Bollywood with the midnight screening of a specially prepared montage of great moments in Hindi musical cinema."Bollywood: The World's Greatest Love Story" was put together to make up for a perennial dearth of Indian films in competition at the world's biggest film event.

The international film business can bridge a lot of cultural divides. But can it knock down one of the great walls of cinema culture that stands between China and the U.S.? The people behind the Chinese epic "The Heroes of Nanking" hope their movie can help create a new pipeline.

The first Indian cultural festival was opened during a ceremony at the Niavaran Cultural Artistic Complex on Tuesday. Indian films and Indian music are being performed during the event and participants will offer Indian food and Indian handicrafts to visitors during the festival...