ECU showcases independent filmmakers

by Fabien Lemercier

02/03/2012 - From March 30 to April 1, cinemas the 7 Parnassiens and l’Action Christine will welcome the seventh ÉCU, the European Independent Film Festival. Directed by Scott Hillier, the event will notably screen two German films, the surprising and cerebral fantasy film Iron Doors 3D by Stephen Manuel in which a young man trapped under a mysterious vault tries to escape death by dehydration, and the political thriller On the Inside by Uwe Janson set to revenge in Berlin after murders in the Congo. Also worth noting is the striking German-Turkish co-production Labirent by Tolga Ornek, with a plot that mixes terrorism and espionage after an attack is Istanbul.

Two British feature films are also on the menu: the existentialist comedy Women and Children by Daniel Mitelpunkt and Everywhere and Nowhere [trailer] by Menhaj Huda (Kidulthood), a film that follows a group of young Londoners of Asian origin, torn between their attraction for the western world of clubbing and the strict upbringing that they have received from their parents. br>
As for feature-length documentaries, there will be M Ferma from Lettonia, The Boy Mir - Ten Years in Afghanistan by Phil Grabsky from Great Britain, and Memories of Old Awake by Patrick Chadwick, a film that explores the contemporary impact of the Icelandic sagas on the local population.

Short films (notably the surprising Little King by Greek director Socrates Alafouzos), animation films (including The Game by Polish director Marcin Janiec), student films (including the Danish Withering Love by Samanou Sahlstrøm starring Emmanuelle Béart and Denis Lavant), and experimental works - all this and more at the ECU 2012, a festival determined to continue uncovering original and alternative talents.

(Translated from French)