The European Film Festival gets ready for its 21st edition in Romania
- More than 60 films will be screened in five Romanian cities in May
One of the oldest film festivals in Romania, which expands with each new edition, the European Film Festival is about to reach its 21st edition, which will kick off on 4 May with Aki Kaurismaki’s The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile]. The festival will screen more than 60 films in Bucharest, Iaşi, Târgu Mureş, Gura Humorului and Timişoara.
The selection features some of the newest European films, and more than 35 features will be screened for the first time in Romania. Besides The Other Side of Hope, among the new titles are Gabriel Achim’s The Last Day [+see also:
interview: Gabriel Achim
film profile] (to be released nationwide in May) and Romanian-French director Radu Mihăileanu’s English-language debut, The History of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].
The event’s new artistic director, Alex Trăilă, has grouped the selection into several sidebars, from Agora, which shows titles tackling modern-day Europe’s most urgent issues, to Young Audience, consisting of films for children and teenagers. The Arte sidebar is a collaboration with the French TV channel, including VR titles, while Lux will show the three finalists for the LUX Prize. Another sidebar will show short films from the Republic of Moldova.
Besides the screenings, the organisers will use several titles as an occasion to hold debates. Adrian Sitaru’s The Fixer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
interview: Tudor Aaron Istodor
film profile] and Michael Koch’s Marija [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Koch
film profile] will be the starting point for a debate on human trafficking and choices in life, while The Other Side of Hope will be accompanied by a debate on several aspects of the migration phenomenon.
In addition to screenings for children and teenagers, the festival also offers educational programmes for teachers and their students. The educational platform of the festival is run in partnership with the CinEd programme of the Institut Français in Bucharest.
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