JOIN USBest of EU films set to regale the city
There is no better way to learn about a country than through the films made on it or even shot there. The upcoming European Union Film Festival will also provide a chance to Delhiites, to experience Europe in the heart of India!
The rich cultural diversity of the European Union will be displayed at the 20th edition of EU Film Festival through a cinematic prism. A repertoire of 21 award-winning European films will be screened at three different venues in the city - Instituto Cervantes, Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre and India Habitat Centre.
Organised by the Delegation of the European Union and embassies of Member States, in partnership with Federation of Film Societies of India, the festival will begin in Chennai and travel to Delhi, to be followed by Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Coimbatore and Jodhpur over the next four months.
The selection of films includes all genres such as comedy, drama, romance and action to narrate the charming and sometimes unsettling stories. For instance, the festival will narrate the story of 11-year-old Freddy, a cyclist who hopes to win a race and thereby meets one of his heroes. There is also a story of two opera directors who have a common passion for music, matched by their thirst for love. These stories will bring alive European life in Delhi.
“Through films, sitting in a darkened hall in front of a screen, we can laugh together, relive history, explore the beauty of distant landscapes and celebrate what makes us human,” says Dr João Cravinho, Ambassador of the European Union. He too says that films portray glimpses of the life and times of people while breaking the barriers of language.
“The European Union film festival through its 20 years of journey in India has provided an ideal bridge between two vibrant cultural scenes with rich film traditions and has developed into a significant annual event in the calendar of film aficionados,” adds the ambassador who will inaugurate the festival.
Starting on April 8, the EU Film Festival will go on till April 20 in the Capital. On the first day, the festival will begin at Instituto Cervantes in Connaught Place. The inaugural film will be Pizzas (Latvia), which is a story of two pizza bakers – Oskars and Matīss. They have huge plans for the future but one evening their lives are turned upside down. Find out what happens.
Also screened will be Go, Eddy! Allez Eddy (Belgium). This is a story of 11-year-old cycling talent Freddy whose participation in a cycling race opens up a new world, not only for him, but also for all those surrounding him. The Foreigner (Bulgaria) is a romantic comedy about a Frenchman who falls in love with a hot tempered Bulgarian village girl.
Following the call of his heart he starts looking for the village where she lives without knowing the character and the language of the people living there. Vis-À-Vis (Croatia) brings together the story of a filmmaker on the island of Vis, wanting to find out if he made a good choice in choosing his main cast. Due to the island’s isolation during winter, the two of them are unexpectedly faced with their own frustrations, which intertwine with the film’s plot in a strange way.
In the romantic comedy section, Committed (Cyprus) is a must watch. It is a story about a man who takes to the road to escape the pressure of proposing to his girlfriend, only to come across a bride who has just run out on her wedding. On the contrary, The Don Juans (Czech Republic) is an amusing satire filled with sensual imagery that tells the story about love and disillusion, music and passion; story about the world of opera unmasked and stripped of its glamour, and of the people caught in between.
One must also watch The Keeper of Lost Causes (Denmark), which is the story of 18-year-old Caspar who wants to reach the top, no matter what. The entry to all the films is free and the schedule can be accessed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/658619437599454/