Cine Europa adds Bohol to its run
CINE EUROPA opens its 22nd edition in Metro Manila on Sept. 20 at its new venue at Cinema 1, Greenbelt 3 in Makati City. It runs until Sept. 24.
This year, the festival showcases 12 films presented by the embassies of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
“Cine Europa is a distinctive way to showcase European cultural diversity and to open up opportunities in the cultural and creative industries,” the Chargé d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to the Philippines Thomas Wiersing was quoted as saying in a press release.
Cine Europa is also expanding its regional presence for the second year in a row by presenting the festival films for the first time in Bohol from Oct. 11 and 12.
At the press launch on Sept. 5 at Greenbelt 3’s My Cinema in Makati City, Mr. Wiersing said that adding new cities is an opportunity “to increase their footprint in the Visayas.”
After the Manila leg, the festival will be held at SM City in Cebu; SM in Iloilo City; Ateneo de Naga University and SM in Naga; the Palawan State University and SM in Palawan; and the Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte. And of course, in Bohol. It will return to Metro Manila for its last leg at the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) offices in November.
“Cultural and creative sectors including the film industry play a significant role in ensuring the continuing development of societies, strengthening identity, creating jobs, and driving inclusive and sustainable growth,” Mr. Wiersing said. “I wish that somehow Cine Europa can provide a very good opening to enhance the bilateral relationship between the EU and the Philippines.”
The films to be shown are:
• Belgium’s Achter De Wolken (Behind the Clouds), directed by Cecilia Verheyden, about two people who meet after 40 years and question the possibility of a second chance at love.
• Czech Republic’s Teorie Tygra (The Tiger Theory), directed by Radek Bajgar, about a veterinarian who breaks free from his marriage to start a new life.
• Denmark’s Vinterbrødre (Winter Brothers), directed by Hylnur Pálmason, is about a feud between brothers and another family.
• France’s Tour De France, directed by Rachid Djaidani, follows a rapper who leaves Paris after a dispute with his rival, who then finds a friendship with a music producer.
• Germany’s Grüße Aus Fukushima (Greetings from Fukushima), directed by Doris Dorrie, follows an old geisha and a young women who become friends as they go through their own struggles amidst the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
• Hungary’s Búék (Happy New Year), directed by Krisztina Goda, follows a group of friends who regularly celebrate New Year’s Eve and catch up.
• Italy’s Essere Leonardo da Vinci, un’intervista impossibile (Being Leonardo da Vinci, an impossible interview), directed by Massimiliano Finazzer Florry, follows two journalists who find themselves at the polymath’s final resting place, unexpectedly meet him, and are granted an interview.
• The Netherlands’ De Marathon (The Marathon), directed by Diederick Koopal, follows four out-of-shape men who start training for a marathon, hoping to win enough money to pay a debt.
• Norway’s Kongens nei (The King’s Choice), directed by Erik Poppe, is based on true events from 1940 when the German army presented king of Norway with the choice to either surrender or die.
• Spain’s 10.000 km (Long Distance), directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet, follows a couple whose plans to start a family are imperiled when the wife is offered an artistic residency in Los Angeles.
• Sweden’s Tjuvheder (Drifters), directed by Peter Grönlund, follows a drug pusher who steals some money and travels with a friend out of town.
• United Kingdom’s Mary Shelley, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, centers on the love affair between poet Percy Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft, that led to the creation of the first sci-fi novel, Frankenstein.
For more information and screening schedules, visit www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/philippines or the official Facebook page of the EU Delegation to the Philippines. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
