EU Film Fest kicks off in Cebu tomorrow
Online Source: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?En...id=20071003221
Thursday, October 4, 2007
More than 15 award-winning and critically-acclaimed films from member countries of the European Union such as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will be screened at the Cine Europa Festival in Ayala Center Cebu’s OnStage Cinema.
The annual film festival rolls into Cebu tomorrow, October 5 and ends on Monday, October 8. Cine Europa also marks its decade-long existence this year, with the festival to head to Davao then Manila after the Cebu run.
Movie themes run the gamut—from the supernatural, thriller, romance to true-to-life based stories. The complete schedules and summaries are as follows:
October 5, 2007
(Friday)
Austria’s SUMMER WITH THE GHOSTS (11am - 12:25pm). A film is being produced at the medieval fortress of Finterstein in Austria, at the great displeasure of resident ghosts. Peter, the film producer, is visited by his daughter Caroline from Montreal, who is on summer holiday. As her father gets busy, Caroline begins her own exploration of the fortress. With her new friend Jakob, a boy from a nearby village, she tries to get to the bottom of the disturbances plaguing the film crew. The children soon discover the mystery of the fortress. A very enjoyable film for the whole family.
Belgium’s THE KISS (12:45 pm - 2:21 pm). Sarah, a beautiful and gifted girl of 15, lives in a wealthy but dysfunctional family. She holds on to one dream: to run away and to become a professional ballerina. She meets 30-year-old Vic—good-looking, charming and the first person to understand her. At last Sarah has a friend. She trusts him blindly. Vic promises to help her get away from home. They fall in love. Soon Vic appears to be extremely dangerous, but by now she is entangled in his web.
Czech Republic’s KOLYA (2:45pm – 4:33pm). A bittersweet comedy set in Prague about an aging bachelor saddled with a small boy from Russia. The story is set in the late 80s, the period just before the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia. Jan Louka, a musician, works hard but most of his income goes to repairing his mother’s small house. A friend comes up with a solution: at that time many Soviet women were willing to pay for a fake marriage. He agrees, but his ‘wife’ immediately migrates to Germany, leaving behind her five-year-old son Kolya. At first Jan considers the situation a nightmare but his feelings change when slowly a warm relationship develops between man and boy. When the ‘Velvet Revolution’ allows the mother to return for her son, Jan realizes that what had been such a life-changing inconvenience was probably the most beautiful period of his life.
Germany’s SUMMER IN BERLIN (5pm – 6:47pm). Two girlfriends, who, from their balcony—between heaven and earth—gaze down at their turbulent and difficult universe, where the right men are all too often exactly wrong, and to get ahead even a good-looking woman had better be strong. An enchanting comedy, full of human warmth, sincerity and delightful humor—a film about life.
United Kingdom’s SHOOTING DOGS (7:30pm – 9:25pm). Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy) is teaching in Rwanda during his gap year. When the school he teaches at becomes a haven for thousands of Rwandans fleeing the genocide, Joe promises his brightest pupil, Marie (Clare-Hope Ashitey), that the UN soldiers will protect her from the hordes of extremist militia baying for blood outside the school. But when the UN abandoned the refugees, Joe and the school’s headmaster, Father Christopher (John Hurt), face an agonizing dilemma: should they leave or should they stand firm with the Rwandans. As the UN trucks force their way through the terrified refugees, Joe stares at the tear-stained face of Marie: what should he do? The film is an emotionally gripping and powerful recreation of a tragic real life story that took place during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
October 6, 2007
(Saturday)
Denmark’s THE LEAP (11am – 12:31pm). When doctors tell 42-year-old Tobias Jacobsen that he is fatally ill, the earth opens up beneath him and he finds himself plunging into the abyss. It makes him think of the time he was 13 and his girlfriend got him to jump off the balcony of her father’s house with a sun umbrella for a parachute. Two stories separated by 29 years are told in parallel, but gradually intertwine into one drama. Both stories have moments of joy and tragedy, as fates wondrously separate and are brought back together again. It is a story about making a leap of faith, trusting in yourself and realizing that, ultimately, life is no good without humor, even of the darker variety.
Finland’s FC VENUS (1pm – 2:47pm). A romantic comedy about the differences between men and women. It is also a story of success and failure, the joy of winning and the fear of losing—and football. Women challenge men to the game of their life.
France’s LA MOME (3:15 – 5:35pm). From the streets of the cutthroat Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York’s most glamorous concert halls, Edith Piaf’s life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in abject poverty, surrounded by hookers and pimps, Edith’s magical voice made her a star on both sides of the Atlantic. Her passionate romances and friendships with some of the greatest names of the period—Yves Montand, Jean Cocteau, Charles Aznavour, Marlene Dietrich and boxing world champion Marcel Cerdan—made her a household name, as did her beautiful renditions of songs that were listened to by audiences across the globe: La Vie en Rose, Hymn To Love, Non Je ne Regrette Rien and many more. Despite her determination to deny her tragic destiny, the “Little Sparrow” as she was known flew so high that she could not fail to burn her wings.
Lithuania’s YOU AM I (6pm – 7:30pm). A lonely architect quits his joyless office job and loveless relationships and takes the only chance to change his life. He decides to build a house in a gloomy forest and live there alone, away from his bygone failures. Working hard and overcoming self-distrust and fear, he finally materializes his remarkable vision: a stylish tree-house, which he builds on three firs with his own hands, using alpinist equipment. But when it is done, he feels a void creeping into his heart. Is it that living in a cozy nest above the earth utterly alone is all he was dreaming about? Is there anybody, with whom he could share his dream? This is a tale about a journey to the source of sadness and joy, embracing loss and love, dissolution and hope, reality and imagination.
Sweden’s JALLA! JALLA! (8pm – 9:28pm). Måns and Roro are best friends and work as park attendants. They get to do all the boring stuff—clean the duck pond and pick up piles of dog shit. Nevertheless, they still think they are cool and awesome. The days calmly pass by until Måns and Roro all of a sudden have serious problems about relationships, *** and getting married off.
October 7, 2007
(Sunday)
Belgium’s DEAD MAN’S HAND (1:30pm – 2:47pm). A wacky comedy about a frugal husband who spends his days repossessing goods purchased by big spenders—while an old friend teaches his neglected wife how to shop on the grand scale.
Hungary’s JUST *** AND NOTHING ELSE (3:15pm – 4:45pm). Discovering that her lover is already married, Dora, a 30-year-old playwright, decides to give up on men. She focuses on satisfying her own desire to have a child and starts to look for a donor. First left to chance, her search then narrows to the men around her, at the theatre at which she works and the kebab stand near home.
Ireland’s INSIDE I’M DANCING (4:15pm – 6pm). Disability is a state of mind in this touching drama about two Dubliners seeking independent lives. Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O’Shea, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, moves in. Michael is stunned to discover that fast talking Rory, who can move only his right hand, can understand his almost unintelligible speech. Rory’s dynamic and rebellious nature soon sparks a flame in Michael, introducing him to a whole new world outside of Carrigmore.
Italy’s FACING WINDOWS (6:30pm – 8:36pm). Giovanna is a bookkeeper in a company which packs chickens. She is married to a man who has a precarious job. Overburdened and stuck in a greying marriage, Giovanna begins to reflect on her life and turns to a young man who lives across from her. The relationship between the two becomes much stronger when she starts to find out more about him from an old man who bursts into their lives, a Jewish Holocaust survivor her husband brings home. The old man, obsessed with the memories of some things that happened in the long past autumn of 1943, has lost his memory and finds refuge in Giovanna.
October 8, 2007
(Monday)
The Netherland’s ELLIS IN GLAMOURLAND (2pm – 3:35pm). Joan Collins stars as a world famous glamour guru, in town publicizing her hugely successful help book, “How to Marry a Millionnaire.” In a moment of brashness at a publicity presentation, she randomly selects unsuspecting hotel cleaner and single mother, Ellis, promising to turn her from “ugly duckling” to “beautiful swan” fit for the highest reaches of wealthy society. Initially Ellis is not happy with the idea of being a social experiment, but after some persuasion she agrees to take up the offer. Through a giddy swirl of extravagant parties and a queue of fabulously rich suitors, Ellis finds herself on a quest to find Mr. Right, discovering on the way how true wealth can only ever be found on the inside.
Slovakia’s MEETING THE ENEMY (4pm – 6pm). The essence of this dramatic story is the search for the principles of humanism. The setting is a snow-covered landscape towards the end of World War II. The film revolves a day in the life of a soldier, who was tasked to escort his prisoner with orders to shoot him. The soldier is torn between his duty and empathy for a fellow human being. The movie is based on the novel by Leopold Lahola.
Spain’s CAROL’S JOURNEY (6:30pm – 8:14pm). Carol, an adolescent whose mother is Spanish and whose father is North American, travels for the first time to Spain in the Spring of 1938 with her mother. Separated from her father, a pilot in the International Brigade, and whom she adores, her arrival into her mother’s village transforms a family atmosphere which is full of secrets. Armed with a rebellious spirit, she opposes the convention-alisms of an unfamiliar world, and opens the doors of the universe of adult sentiments, making this trip a heartrending, tender, and unforgettable internal journey.
Re: Film Festivals, anyone?
What we do in life echoes throughout eternity~ Please support your lokal artists and their efforts to promote the Cebuano identity and culture!
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Originally Posted by BertR
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