2016 EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL

Bookings have opened for the third annual European Film Festival, which is poised to bring the cream of Europe’s cinematic fare to Cinema Nouveau theatres in Durban as well as in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town from May 6 to 15.

This is a unique opportunity for South African audiences to see 11 top-drawer films that have been lauded at recent international festivals and awards ceremonies across the world.

Says Festival Director Katarina Hedrén: “This year’s selection of films does not represent a theme, but rather an ambition to portray a diverse Europe, as well as provoke thought and entertain. It tells the stories of ordinary people, superstars, struggling people and happy ones, too. Of events and moments that seem insignificant but are defining and meaningful to those experiencing them, and of immense catastrophes happening alongside ordinary life, though no one seems to notice. Of love, loneliness and alienation.

“What they have in common is that all 11 are well-crafted films by talented, empathetic and inquisitive filmmakers that we hope will reach and please a diverse audience here in South Africa”, she adds.

Norbert Spitz, Regional Director of the Goethe-Institut: “Hedrén has put together a selection that allows us to discover unconventional, surprising and moving portraits of life in the multifaceted place that Europe is. As Europe is busy rethinking itself and its place in the world, there is one thing that we can continue to be sure of: more than ever, artists and thinkers are needed to share their voices, to challenge and question Europe, and to show us new facets of what it means to arrive in Europe, to live in Europe – or to leave it and look at it from the outside.”

Among the awards won by the films featured on the 2016 European Film Festival programme are:

Macondo (Austria): Director Sudabeh Morezai: The award for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Fire at Sea (Italy): The Golden Bear for Best Film at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.

Body (Poland): The Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Award for Best Editing in 2015.

Amy (United Kingdom): The 2016 Academy Award as well as the British Academy Film Award for Best Documentary, among many other accolades.

Other acclaimed films that will be screened during the festival are Montanha (Portugal), Flowers (Spain), Something Must Break (Sweden), Labyrinth of Lies (Germany), Belgian Rhapsody (Belgium), Chocolat (France) and A Family Affair (the Netherlands).

These dramas, comedies and documentaries, representing the apex of European filmmaking, will be screened at in Durban at Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau Gateway.

Says Lola Gallant, Brand Manager of Cinema Nouveau: “Eleven films over 10 days in four cities is quite a scheduling undertaking. As such, we do encourage festival-goers to pre-book their tickets – and it’s so easy via our various booking platforms”.

Bookings are now open, with tickets priced at R55. To book, visit www.cinemanouveau.co.za or www.sterkinekor.mobi, or call 0861 668 437. For more information, visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za or join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #EuroFilmFestSA

The European Film Festival is coordinated by the Goethe-Institut South Africa, hosted by Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau, and organised in partnership with the European Union and 11 other European cultural agencies or embassies in South Africa: Wallonie-Bruxelles International, the French Institute, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Camões Institute, the British Council, and the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.