The European Film Festival (EFF) held in Romania has
\nnow reached its 21st edition. This year it included as many as 60
\nproductions of various types, more than 35 of which were screened as an absolute
\nfirst in Romania. But the Festival did not include only the usual screening
\nnights. It also offered debates designed to challenge the audience and to
\ninvite them to experiment with virtual reality. The 2017 edition of the EFF has
\non offer 64 documentaries, biographical films, dramas, comedies, animation
\nmovies, thriller and horror movies, short and medium-reel films, experimental
\nfilms as well as Virtual Reality (VR) films. Of the total number, 42 were
\nlaunched in 2017 and 2016. With details on that, here is the EFF coordinator
\nAnca Hrab:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ever since its early days, the Festival brought
\ntogether all kinds of productions. This is a catchphrase we have preserved,
\nbecause it plays very well into the message of the festival, it is very
\nsuggestive. It is difficult to label films, we usually avoid doing this.
\nHollywood movies may be easier to label, but the European film is more
\ndifficult to fit into specific categories. This is why we opted for this
\nformula which we found more suitable, namely ‘films of all kinds’.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The EFF’s 21st edition was held in
\nBucharest May 4th through 11th, in Iasi, eastern Romania,
\nMay 12th through 14th, in Targu Mures, central Romania,
\nMay 19th to 21st, Gura Humorului, in northeastern
\nRomania, May 19th to 21st, and in Timisoara, on May 26th
\nto 28th. For the first time in its history, a gala screening of Aki
\nKaurismaki’s film, The Other Side of Hope (Finland, 2017), a premiere for
\nRomania, opened in all 5 locations of the festival. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
LUX is one of the main sections of the EFF. It presents
\nthe three film productions that got through to the final in the most recent
\nedition of the LUX Prize offered by the European Parliament. ‘Comics’ is a
\nsection which was specially created to celebrate the European Comics Salon.
\n‘Young Audiences’ includes films for children and teens, while ‘Film in the
\nRepublic of Moldova’ includes shorts and medium-reels made in the Republic of
\nMoldova. Speaking about that, here is the EFF coordinator Anca Hrab once again:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We should mention that this year, apart from the
\nusual screening nights, we have expanded the range of events and took up a
\ndirection which brings debates on current issues into the limelight. This is
\nwhy for this edition of the EFF we have selected productions likely to spark
\ndebates, to be starting points for a series of debates focusing on topics that
\nare relevant for society. Many of those films were included in the Agora
\nsection. There were also films offered by the ARTE channel, a very important
\npartner for this edition, then again, for two days running we screened
\ndocumentaries at Romania’s National Art museum. We have also staged many
\ndiscussions, one of those focused on human trafficking and was based on Adrian
\nSitaru’s The Fixer and Maria, a German film made in 2016. Another debate
\nsection was based on the film screened at the opening gala, ‘The Other Side of
\nHope’, by Aki Kaurismaki, and was organised jointly with a very bold festival,
\nSUPER. It is a festival organised by teenagers, and its main themes this year
\nare migration and acceptance through empathy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Two other panels staged as part of the EFF were
\nPreparing Romania’s position in the reform of the European audio-visual
\npolicy and #RebuildingEurope in Sarajevo an event organised together with
\nthe National School of Political and Administrative Studies, a debate based on
\nThe Siege, a film produced in 2016. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Paul Negoescu is the director of Two Lottery Tickets,
\na 2016 production inspired from a short story by the outstanding Romanian
\nplaywright Caragiale. Negoescu is this year’s ambassador of the European Film
\nFestival, EFF. For me, cinema is a universal language and I’m reluctant to splitting it geographically, ethnically or
\nnationally. I equally appreciate European, American, Iranian or Japanese films.
\nHowever, the European film has a special meaning for me, as I relate with its
\nvalues, Paul Negoescu says. Paul directed the promotion clip for the
\npresent edition of the EFF, starting off from his own idea which illustrates
\nhis love of the European film. Fully in line with the new trend of the
\nFestival, the clip hints at the ability of film to stir not only emotion, but
\nalso to create dialogue, a category the European film brilliantly illustrates.
\nWith details on that, here is Paul Negoescu himself:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When I was a student and even before being admitted
\nto University, the European Film Festival was one of the few opportunities to
\nwatch European productions in Bucharest. Back then there were not so many
\nopportunities to watch this kind of movies, there were not so many festivals
\neither. We used to have Dakino, the French Film Festival, the British Film
\nfestival and the European Film Festival. The main idea of the clip I created
\nfor the Festival came to me during this winter’s protests, particularly since
\nduring the same period protest rallies were being held in other countries as
\nwell. And I thought I could build on this idea of protests which generate
\ndiscussions and debates. I mean, with everybody involved in some protest, why
\nwouldn’t film lovers, those who want better films, protest as well?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In European
\ncinema, the author’s vision is above the financial investors’ interests, and
\nwhen the author has full creative freedom, authentic, unconventional and daring
\nfilms can arise. Moreover, in times that seem to get more and more divisive, cinema
\nupholds as a social hard core able to bring us together, and the European film
\nmakes no exception, filmmaker Paul Negoescu says. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The European Film Festival is organised by the
\nRomanian Cultural Institute, under the aegis of EUNIC Romania, in a partnership
\nwith the European Commission Representation, and with the support of European
\nembassies and cultural centres, of the National Art Museum, the National
\nPeasant Museum, the Peasant Museum Cinema, the French Institute, the Elvire
\nPopesco Cinema. Also supporting the European Film Festival were the Czech
\nCentre, the Cervantes Institute, the Filmmakers Union in Romania and the
\nEuropean Parliament Information Office in Romania. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
60 films were screened this year at the European Film Festival held in Bucharest and other cities in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":161590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[30305],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-95686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-european-film-festival"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n