Chennai: Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation in association with the delegation of the European Union to India, Alliance Française of Madras & Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Chennai is organising 24th European Union film festival at Alliance Francaise of Madras, Nungambakkam, from 24 June to 4 July.
According to a press release, the festival will be inaugurated by Mark Van de Vreken, Consul-General, Consulate General of the Kingdom of Belgium, Chennai, at 6 pm.
Bruno Plasse, director, Alliance Française of Madras, Helmut Schippert, director, Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai, Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, industrialist and Susan Marthandan, director, Hindustan College of Arts and Science) will particiapte. Sivan Kannan, president, ICAF will preside over the function.
For details, contact 2821 2652.
The schedule
Films to be screened at Alliance Francaise of Madras:
24 June – Hope directed by Boris Lojkine at 6.30 pm and Return of Sergeant Lapins by Gatis Smits at 8 pm
25 June – King of the Belgians by Peter Brosens at 6 pm and Bubblegum by Stanislav Todorov at 7.30 pm
26 June – Rosemarie by Adonis Florides at 5.30 pm and Styx by Wolfgang at 7.15 pm
27 June – Tender Waves by Jirí Vejdelek at 5 pm, <I> A Fortunate Man<P> by Bille August at 6.30 pm
28 June – Laugh or Die by Heikki Kujanpää at 7 pm
Films to be screened at Geothe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan:
29 June – Little England by Pantelis Voulgaris at 4 pm, Beside Me by Tedy Necula at 6.30 pm and Maria (and everybody else) by Nely at 7.45 pm
30 June – The Troupe by Pál Sándor at 4.30 pm, Black 47 by Lance Daly at 6.15 pm and Drive Me Home by Simone Catania at 7.45 pm
1 July – Ashes in the Snow by Marius A Markevicius at 6 pm and Of Time and the Sea by Pál Sándor at 7.30 pm
2 July – Diamantino by Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt at 6 pm and Backstage by Andrea Sedlácková at 7.30 pm
3 July – Drifters by Peter Grönlund at 6 pm and #Female Pleasure by Barbara Miller at 7.30 pm
4 July – Tulipani by Mike Van Diem at 5.30 pm and Me and Kaminski by Wolfgang Becker at 7 pm
Synopsis of few films
Hope
Deep in the Sahara desert, as they try to get to Europe, Léonard, a young man from Cameroon, rescues Hope, a Nigerian woman. In a fiercely hostile world where safety requires staying with one’s own people, these two try to find their way together, and to love each other.
King of the Belgians
A dormant King gets lost in the Balkans and awakens to the real world. King Nicolas III is a lonely soul who has the distinct feeling he’s living the wrong life. He embarks on a state visit to Istanbul with a British filmmaker, Duncan Lloyd.
Rosemarie
A burned out soap opera writer turns his gaze upon his dysfunctional neighbours, but gets more than the inspiration he bargained for Costas, an uninspired soap opera writer struggling with writer’s block, is under pressure by his producer to deliver new episodes.
Tender Waves
The movie appears to combine a hit-making formula of romantic comedy and nostalgia. The shy protagonist Vojta is torn between a choleric father who wants him to become a professional swimmer and a mother who sees him as a talented pianist.
Laugh or Die
The famous actor of the Workers’ Theatre, Parikka, is caught and sent to a prison camp where his remaining comrades languish on the verge of death. All the red rebels at the camp are going to be executed. Parikka’s situation among his comrades is not comforting.
Little England
It is an epic tale of lost love and a beautiful story of the love between sisters, set in the Greek island of Andros at the beginning of the 20th century. Mina is a matriarch, a woman who runs the lives of her daughters Orsa and Mosca. Orsa, elder of the two, is beautiful and in love with Spyros, but Mina makes her marry another man.
The Troupe
When a handful of travelling actors perform a play, an angry fist fight erupts. A young soldier sides with them in the scuffle. After he is forced to flee, the troupe takes him in and together, they rattle in a cart from village to village, on their way to Budapest.
Ashes in the Snow
In 1941, an aspiring Lithuanian artist and her family are deported to Siberia amidst Stalins brutal dismantling of the Baltic region. In a seemingly hopeless place, love is the only means of survival. But will love be enough to keep them alive?
Diamantino
Diamantino, the world’s premiere soccer star loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets on a delirious odyssey where he confronts neo-fascism, the refugee crisis, genetic modification, and the hunt for the source of genius.