16/01/2006

There is less than a month left for inscriptions, with a deadline of 10 February, for the first edition of the European Independent Film Festival which will run in Paris from the 22nd to 25th March 2006. Also called ECU Film Festival, the event, headed by Scott Hillier, has for objective not only to bring together the best of independent production from the Old Continent in the style of the early days of Sundance, but also to send awarded films to places such as Los Angeles, Sydney, New York, Toronto, Moscow and Peking. Other than filmmakers, the Paris festival, supported by National Film Centre (CNC), also welcomes professionals, producers, distributors, international sales agents and artistic agents. According to Scott Hillier, "independent European directors are often little known outside their own countries. But I believe strongly in this festival which gives a chance to show that the label Made in Europe is as good as Made in America. We have to give to the public, who are more and more weary of cinema stereotypes, the possibility of seeing films from the Old Continent".

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The 2006 competition is open to ten categories, of which seven are exclusively dedicated to independent European productions: feature fiction, short fiction, feature documentaries, short documentaries, film school, animation and experimental cinema. Also, a reportage category is accessible to candidates from all over the world as well as Europeans who can participate in three specific sections (feature and short fiction, feature documentaries).