NT NETWORK
PANAJI: Altogether 22 out of 26 European countries will be screening 24 films at the 15th European Union Film Festival that will open at the Maquinez Palace auditorium, Campal, on April 24.
The 12-day festival, which will run longer than the International Film Festival of India, will be inaugurated in the presence of the Governor, Dr S S Sidhu and 11 Ambassadors of various European countries in India. The film festival will open with the Portuguese production, ‘Cristovao Colombo O Enigma’ (Christopher Colombus: The Enigma), directed by the 102-year-old Portuguese director, Manoel de Oliveira.
The EU Film Festival comprises of a bouquet of films that offers vivid reflections of Europe’s myriad cultural streams and serves as a showcase of European life in a particular socio-economic and cultural environment. The festival symbolises an important facet of the growing cultural relations between the EU and India and is part of the EU-India strategic partnership established at the 6th EU-India Summit in September 2005.
Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria and Romania will participate in the festival.
Mr Manoj Srivastava, the CEO of the Entertainment Society of Goa, which is the co-host of the event along with the Delegation of the European Union to India, said that two films would be screened every day during the festival to be held at the Maquinez Palace auditoriums.
“We are using the platform to popularise European art in Goa,” Mr Srivastava added, pointing out that before the inauguration of the film festival, a specially curated exhibition of various art forms like painting, sculpture and so on as brought out by different European artist living in Goa and titled ‘European art in India – An exhibition” will be opened by the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, at the Maquinez Palace Art Gallery. “The film festival will also pay special tribute to the first Goan filmmaker, late Al Jerry Braganza, who produced films like ‘Mogacho Aundo’ and ‘Sukhachem Sopon’, by screening a 7-minute film on the filmmaker,” he noted.
Speaking further, the CEO of the ESG said that a seminar on ‘European arts in India’ will be organised on April 26, at Maquinez Palace Auditorium II at 6.30 p.m. “The seminar will be attended by film artists from Goa and Europe, who will share their experiences on this platform, with the basic idea behind the seminar being to promote exchange of cinematic ideas, from the two countries,” he stated.
Replying to a question, Mr Srivastava said that previously such film festivals were held at New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkota. For the first time Goa will be hosting the event. “The festival started during the mid-1980s and is held once every two years,” he informed, expressing confidence that Goa could become a permanent venue for this film festival.
Some of the entries at the 15th European Union Film Festival are ‘7 Years’ (France), ‘A Tale of Two Mozzies’ (Denmark), ‘All the Queen´s Men’ (Austria), ‘One Hundred Nails’ (Italy), ‘Chopin Desire for Love’ (Poland), ‘Christopher Columbus: The Enigma’ (Portugal), ‘Formidable’ (Belgium), ‘Grave Decisions’ (Germany), ‘In Real Life’ (Netherlands), ‘USA’ (Luxemburg), ‘One Eye Red’ (Sweden), ‘Roosters Breakfast’ (Slovenia), ‘Secrets’ (Czech Republic), ‘Small Engine Repair’ (Ireland), ‘Solitude’ (Spain), ‘Playing Solo’ (Finland), ‘Soul at Peace’ (Slovak Republic), ‘The Age of Stupid’ (United Kingdom), ‘The Beheaded Rooster’ (Romania), The Hell of Tanger (Belgium), ‘The Investigator’ (Hungary) and ‘The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner’ (Bulgaria).
The screenings at the film festival will be open for the general public.
‘European Cinema’ refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Europe. Some notable European film movements include German Expressionism, Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, Polish Film School, New German Cinema, Portuguese Cinema Novo, Czechoslovak New Wave, Dogme 95, New French Extremity, and Romanian New Wave. However, in terms of achieving commercial recognition at a global level, it was the British film industry that matched the success of Hollywood.
