EU Film Festival 2017 aims to improve cultural ties

The 22nd European Union Film Festival (EUFF) kicked off here with an aim to improve cultural ties between India and European countries.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the film festival that opened with Estonian film 'Cherry Tobacco', Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India, said that apart from economic partnerships between India and the EU, it is important to improve cultural ties as well.

"The EUFF contributes significantly for developing cultural ties between India and the European Union. While the main focus of India and EU's cooperation is on finance, economics, climate change and so on, we feel partnering up for improving cultural ties is extremely important as well," he said.

The film festival, which will screen 22 films from 22 European countries at Siri Fort Auditorium here, seeks to serve the purpose of "knowing and understanding each other better", the ambassador said.

"Music, drama, art, or film -- such exchanges bring the rhetoric of friendship and cooperation to a personal and individual level.

"Sometimes it is very difficult to measure the real impact of cultural cooperation, but even without any measurement we can say that exposure to each other's culture is an extremely important contribution and factor for knowing and understanding each other better."

Beginning in Delhi, the festival in association with Directorate of Film Festivals will also travel to Pune, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Ranchi, Coimbatore and Puducherry till August 3 this year.

The festival will not only showcase films from Estonia, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Greece, among several countries, but also explore different styles of cinema with a blend of varying cultures.

"This time we will screen 22 films from different corners of Europe with different cultures and their perception of different life phenomena is different.

"As India is a rich country because of its ethnic composition, language composition, and different aspects of its culture, we feel this year our films will attract more viewers because of the diverse ideas shared by Indians and Europeans equally," Kozlowski said.

While welcoming European filmmakers to work in India and vice versa, C Senthil Rajan, directorat Directorate of Film Festivals, said that it is part of "our efforts to promote cultural ties between India and the EU countries".

"The Directorate of Film Festivals has been working with embassies of different countries in organising film festivals as part of cultural exchange programme.

"This festival is also one such initiative. What we are organising today is a celebration of storytelling through moving images from Europe that will move your heart," Rajan said.

Apart from screening award-winning films, this year's film festival will also hold several 'Master classes' by Katrin Maimik and Andres Maimik, directors of 'Cherry Tobacco', to share their experiences in filmmaking with young filmmakers in India.

The film is a "youthful drama about falling in love for the first time".

"The film pays attention to the little details that falling in love and being in love involve – all of the smells and tastes and sounds, everything you consume – to which the infatuated can attach even fetishistic meaning," Andres Maimik said.