10/10/2003 - From the great classics to new talents: France showcases European productions, with 30 cities and almost all TV channels involved. Paris looks to Italy, Strasbourg talks Greek, Beauvais views Germany

There’s widespread participation from French television and cinemas for this second edition of Cinedays which starts today throughout the whole of Europe. Films from the Old Continent will be put in the spotlight until October 24, in special events being held in 30 French big cities, more than doubled from the 9 that took part last year. And Cinedays 2003 will also involve the major French TV channels, giving audiences the chance to discover, or re-discover the delights from the world of European cinema.

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Cinedays 2003 has excited a great deal of interest from enthusiastic cinema operators, from Paris to Strasbourg, via Marseille, Rennes, Lille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nancy, Caen, Limoges, Beauvais, Orléans and Nîmes. It’s an opportunity for them to present European productions, and target a young audience which often doesn’t realise the quality or sometimes even the existence of these films. There’s the German Good Bye, Lenin! [+see also:
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Becker
film profile], the British film Dirty Pretty Things, the Italian The Best of Youth or the curious Hungarian Film Hic. Many French film and media libraries and cinemas are taking part, and they’l also be featuring classic works, by maestros like Fellini, Polanski, Pasolini, Fritz Lang, Schlondorf, De Sica, Skolimowski and Almodovar, mixed with more recent European productions by authors like the Dardenne Brothers, Amenabar, De Oliveira, Winterbottom, Ken Loach, Catherine Link and many more.
The plethora of initiatives also include the Italian Festival taking place at the Latina cinema in Paris from October 15 to 21, featuring 14 recent productions. Then there’s a focus on Greek Films in Strasbourg, with 10 films being shown between October 15 and 28. Beauvais will be hosting an overview of German cinema and a completely European programme will be put on from October 15 to 21 in the 4 Métropole cinemas in Lille.