European films under the Christmas tree

by Valeria Chiari

23/12/2003 - During the Holiday Season, Europe gives its all during this key period for cinema distribution by trying to head off the usual invasion of films “Made in the USA”.
If on one hand the arrival of films like Mona Lisa Smile by the Englishman, Mike Newell, or In the cut by Jane Campion, not to mention blockbusters like the third chapter of The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson or the not-to-be-missed Disney hit, Finding Nemo leave national box offices shaking, on the other the numerous European films are holding their own and traveling from one end of the continent to the other. This is certainly true for the French-Belgian-Canadian animated film Belleville rendez-vous [trailer] by Sylvain Chomet, which is arriving at cinemas as far as Greece and Norway, or French productions like Ah! Si j'étais riche by Michel Munz and e Gérard Bitton, and Swimming Pool [trailer] by François Ozon which will delight audiences in the Czech Republic and Norway.

As usual Italy presents its national production with its traditional Christmas couple of Massimo Boldi/Christian De Sica riunited by the invincible Neri Parenti in Natale in India, as well as Vincenzo Salemme’s new film Ho visto le stelle! and Leonardo Pieraccioni’s latest creative effort Il paradiso all’improvviso, which is also coming out in Switzerland on December 26th. In Portugal there will be the long-awaited adaptation of the best seller by the American author Tracy Chevalier Girl with a Pearl Earring [trailer], directed by Peter Webber and starring Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson, while Spain is welcoming Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing [trailer] and Austria is expecting the latest Swedish production entitled Kops by the young Josef Fares.

(Translated from Italian)