The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Twenty-three films from 18 countries, including a recent Academy Award winner and a Golden Globe nominee, are set to entertain audiences as part of the 18th edition of the Cine Europa film festival, which unreels from September 10 to 20 at Shangri-La Plaza’s Shang Cineplex in Mandaluyong City.
In a statement, Lubomir Frebort, political counselor of the European Union (EU) delegation in the Philippines, said this year’s festival—which has “Coming of Age” as its theme—is particularly exciting, noting how its audiences have evolved, or come of age, in the last 18 years.
He also noted that “Filipino audiences have matured, as they have been exposed” to the diversity and excellence of “movies (that) are distinctively European in character.”
Among the films to be screened for free at Cine Europa 18, the most prominent is Ida, from first-time participant Poland, which won the Oscar for best foreign language film in February.
Set in the early 1960s, Ida focuses on a novice who, before taking her vows, is ordered by her mother superior to visit her aunt, whose revelation of her Jewish roots leads the title character to discover a dark family secret rooted in the country’s Nazi-occupation past.
Poland is also represented in the festival by Miasto 44, which deals with the loves and friendships formed during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
Another acclaimed film at Cine Europa 18 is the fact-based Pride, which was nominated for the best motion picture (comedy or musical) award at the Golden Globes in January.
Framed by one of the characters’ gradual embrace of his homosexuality, this British film chronicles the involvement of a group of gay and lesbian activists with another group of people whom they see as oppressed as they are: the National Union of Mineworkers, which went on a lengthy nationwide strike in 1984.
Nicholas Thomas, director of the British Council Philippines, called Pride “a genuinely uplifting film that tells the true story of a friendship that was formed between two communities in unlikely and challenging circumstances.”
Of particular interest to devout Filipino Catholics is the Czech film Little Baby Jesus, which tells the story of Jose, a 60-year-old Czech who returns to Prague to ask that city’s famous image of the Christ Child to ask that his daughter be able to bear a child.
Some of the participating countries have two films in Cine Europa 18. One of them, Belgium, has Puppy Love, about a 14-year-old girl whose life is turned upside down when Julia, an adventurous and liberated English girl enters the picture; and Gilles, about a 12-year-old boy whose dream of becoming a member of his favorite football team someday is put in jeopardy when his father dies.
Another is Germany, which has The Legend of Paul and Paula, which focuses on two people who go through divorces, sorrows and betrayals before finally ending up together; and Suck Me Shakespeer, about a former convict who poses as a substitute teacher at a school where he secretly tries to dig for the stolen cash that was buried there by his girlfriend.
Italy has Ginger and Cinnamon, about a woman and her niece who learn about love and family while on holiday at a Greek resort; and Ovosodo—“hard-boiled egg” in Italian—which follows a shy working-class boy named Piero as he grows into adulthood.
Romania is represented by Live, which deals with the struggles a successful television anchor is experiencing while facing a huge scandal; and Silent Wedding, about a young couple whose wedding is interrupted by Communist Party officials, who imposed a period of commemoration for the recently deceased Joseph Stalin—an order quietly subverted by the townspeople, with comic results.
Rounding up the list of films are Rise Up! And Dance, from Austria; Faith, Love and Whiskey, Bulgaria; Antboy, Denmark; Naked Harbor, Finland; La Belle Vie, France; Finn, the Netherlands; Totally True Love, Norway; 15 Years and One Day, Spain; The Corpse Must Die, Slovakia; Stockholm Stories, Sweden; and Keep Rollin’, Switzerland.
As proof of Cine Europa’s increasing popularity, this year’s edition will move to nine cities after its run at the Shang Cineplex ends: Baguio, Benguet province (Sept. 22 to 27); Iloilo City, Iloilo province (Sept. 29 to October 4); Cebu City, Cebu province; (Oct. 9 to 11); Zamboanga City (Oct. 13 to 18); Tacloban, Leyte province (Oct. 21 to 25); Davao City (November 3 to 8); Baybay City, Leyte (Nov. 10 to 15); Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental province (Nov. 18 to 22); and Makati City (Nov. 24 to 29). ALVIN I. DACANAY
For more information, visit eeas.europa.eu/delegations/philippines or www.facebook.com/EUDelegationToThePhilippines, or www.shangrila-plaza.com or call (632) 370-2500 local 597.