The European Film Festival ventures off the beaten track
|||There’s a film festival afoot that challenges you to step outside of yourself, writes Theresa Smith
Rather than pick any theme, European Film Festival director, Katarina Hedrén, chose films which provide a diversity of views and experiences for this year’s programme.
Hence 11 films which range from documentary to drama and comedy will screen over 10 days in four cities around South Africa, starting today.
Tickets cost R55 and Hedrén suggests that booking a seat is necessary because this is a rare opportunity to enjoy award-winning films which would never make it to the local circuit because they are not deemed commercially viable by local distributors.
“I was looking for films of quality which have won acclaim and attention, films which reflect Europe as a very diverse space. We need to provide a space for that diversity and the perspectives of the filmmakers and stories to be told,” she said.
Hedrén didn’t want to duplicate the programming from an overseas festival and had to keep in mind what would be of relevance and interest here in South Africa: “I want to be able to reach a diverse audience and not just focus on the Europhiles or the cinephiles. I have to try and go beyond the expectations the audience might have.”
Hedrén thinks, given the opportunity, audiences might realise they can identify with a 95-year-old woman, a French clown from the 1800s or a 14-year-old boy: “When we sit down and allow them to come, good things can happen. You can surprise yourself.
“Every film is not for everyone. When you read the synopsis though, you will find what is for you. Still, I would love for people to surprise themselves and go for something they wouldn’t normally choose. Interesting things could happen. Certain things must just be experienced,” said Hedrén.
FILMS SCREENING
Macondo (Austria): see review.
Fire at Sea (Italy): Italian director, Gianfranco Rosi, moved to Lampedusa (the largest island in the Italian Pelagie Islands), where he documents not primarily the catastrophe lived by those who seek refuge in Europe, but the curious absence of disruption in the lives of ordinary Lampedusans.
Body (Poland): Gives you three different perspectives of the physical manifestation of people dealing with pain and absence. “This is a story of grief and loss, but it is actually a comedy.”
Amy (United Kingdom): Oscar-winning, intimate documentary which meticulously unpacks the life of Amy Winehouse: “Because it wasn’t on circuit in South Africa, it qualified for this festival, and it is a brilliant film.”
Montanha (Portugal): “This is a beautiful film which shows us just a few days in a 14- year-old boy’s life. It puts you into his shoes and you drift along with him. It is very meditative and you feel as confused and numb as he is.”
Flowers (Spain): Don’t be fooled by the banal title, this is an emotionally precise film about the romance and remembrance sparked by a bunch of unexpected flowers. The Hollywood Reporter review called it cinema for grown-ups: “which absolutely deserves wider exposure (and) merits festival attention as one of the best Basque language films ever made.”
Something Must Break (Sweden): “It is so easy for a story about queer people to be just about being queer, but most of all, this is an amazing love story, the kind that hurts and is beautiful and wonderful at the same time.”
Labyrinth of Lies (Germany): Drama set in late 1950s Germany when a young prosecutor realises the lengths people will go to to stop him from finding out more about the many Nazis who return to normal life after World War II.
Belgian Rhapsody (Belgium): The Flemish brass band, Saint Cecilia, and their Wallon counterpart, En Avant, compete for the title of Europe’s best brass band.
Chocolat (France): This biopic tells of Cuban-born Rafael Padilla, who rose to fame in France in the late 1800s with racist circus routines which reduced him to the buffoon, but when he tried to carve out a more dignified role for himself, that same audience who loved the racist clichés turned their back on him.
A Family Affair (the Netherlands): “The filmmaker is a young Dutchman who comes from a family who has experienced pain and he is trying to understand what has happened in his family. This is his chance to find out the story of 95-year-old grandmother and he follows her around as she wraps up her life. It is about his relationship with her, but also about what happened.” This is actually a documentary of a young man’s visit to South Africa.
The films screen at Cinema Nouveau Rosebank, Brooklyn, Gateway and the V&A Waterfront. Please visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za, www.cinemanouveau.co.za or sterkinekor.mobi to book a ticket.