Cine Europa 12 offers a feast of the best of European cinema
Thursday, 10 September 2009 19:58
Rochelle C. Pangilinan | AJPress Manila
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FILIPINO film afficionados should brace themselves. The film festival which introduced us to a group of students having the time of their lives in Barcelona in The Spanish Apartment and a feuding couple in search of their true love in the upper-class suburbs in Sweden in Adam and Eva, took us to the drug-infested streets of Edinburgh, Scotland in Trainspotting and the shoddy barges in Glasgow, Scotland in Young Adam and gave us a glimpse of the harsh realities of everyday life in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia in Kolja and senseless killings in Rwanda in Shooting Dogs is now on its 12th year. Cine Europa officially opens on Sept. 11 at Shangri-la Plaza and will run until Sept. 20 with 18 European films—from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Deputy ambassador of the
Embassy of Spain Alvaro Trejo that the films this year "portray the whole gamut of human feelings and showcase the rich diversity of the culture and heritage in Europe." With Cine Europa, which is for free admission but is on a first come, first served basis, Filipinos got a taste of European cinema, which is often a far cry from the Hollywood fare often served by local cinemas. When it was first introduced to the public, many were adamant to the idea at first, believing that Filipinos would shy away from subtitled films. However, the overwhelming theater attendance in recent years proved that there is a large market for foreign films in the country. The film festival was started in 1998 by the European Union member-countries in honor of the Centennial of Philippine
Independence. It has since remained a special acknowledgement of the partnership of the European Community with the Philippines. Opening the festival is Swedish film Grabeen I Graven Bredvid (The Guy in the Grave Next Door) by Kjell Sundvall, a contemporary romance between a farmer and a city girl.
Other films to be shown are Germany’s Dennis Gansel tackles the complications of fascism via the energetic and the moving drama Die Welle (The Wave). There is also a coming-of-age tale in Belgium’s De Laatste Zomer (The Last Summer) by Joost Wynant. From France comes the Julie Lopes Curval-directed Toi Et Moi (You and Me), a story of two sisters striving to find true love.
