The screenings at this year’s EUFF will get audiences in the
mood for European films as the annual festival trailer, made by CFI programmer
Jerrett Zaroski, uses the rousing theme from the Slovak thriller The Candidate (Kandidàt), which is a timely
contemporary dramedy with its finger on the pulse of contemporary politics and
both its thumbs working the texts and tweets that define a generation. The
engaging theme of EUFF promises an exciting year at EUFF with a strong range of
genres and styles, and The Candidate,
a political comedy-thriller, is just one of many diverse films that cinephiles
may enjoy in the Ottawa film scene.
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| Fuck You, Goethe |
Comedy fans are particularly in
for a treat, since a whopping third of the twenty-seven films screening at EUFF
this year are comedies, one of which is Germany’s breakout hit Fuck You, Goethe (Fack Ju Göhte) aka Suck Me,
Shakespeer in some corners of the globe.
This sex-comedy is the biggest German box office hit in years, as it’s the
first German film in six years to draw over 5 million domestic admissions. This
escapist tone will hopefully make a repeat of last year’s successful comedy
screenings, since films at EUFF 2013 like Denmark’s Superclásico and Italy’s Weddings and Other Disasters were sell-out hits. Italy opens the festival this year
following the tradition in which the Member State occupying the Presidency of
the European Union gets the honour of the opening night slot. This year’s
Italian night offers the Roman romance A Special Day (Un Giorno Speciale)…
and hopefully some fine Italian wine!
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| A Special Day |
This year’s festival also highlights a notable progressive
trend in films from the EU, for CFI Executive Director Tom McSorley noted at
last week’s EUFF launch that this year’s festival enjoys an “accidental strain”
that spotlights women. Many of the films in this year’s programme feature
strong female roles, but far more significant is the fact that six of the
twenty-seven films at the festival credit female directors. That’s an
impressive figure by any measure (22% of the line-up) and beyond the two or
fewer titles with female directors that have played in programmes of comparable
size at festivals such as Cannes.
One of these six directors will be on hand to share her film
with Ottawa audiences. Signe Baumane, director of the Latvian film Rocks in My Pockets (Akmeni Manăs Kabatăs) will introduce her
film on Friday, November 28th and discuss the film with CFI-goers. Rocks in My Pocket marks one of the
hotter nights of the festival, for not only will Baumane be on hand, but she’ll
be presenting one of the buzzier EUFF films, as Rocks in My Pocket is Latvia’s official submission for Best Foreign
Language Film in this year’s Academy Awards race. Baumane is one of two guests
whom EUFF welcomes to the festival, as The
Candidate’s Jonáš Karásek will also be attending the festival on Friday,
Nov. 14.
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| Rocks in My Pocket |
Highlights for Ottawa’s 2014 European Union Film Festival include:
Italy | Dir.
Francesa Comencini | 2012 | 89 min.
Thurs. Nov. 13 at 7:00 pm.
Synopsis: Gina
and Marco are living in the suburbs of Rome. The two meet on a very special
day: their first day at work. They have a future that awaits them and really
seems at hand. Gina is about to realize her dream of becoming an actress, while
Marco for the first time has found an opportunity that allows him to start
dreaming: a job in a car rental company as a driver. They are enabled to know
each other since his first duty is to drive Gina to an appointment, and given a
delay, they have to share the whole day. This journey will take them from the
periphery to the center of the city, will serve both to compare their
experiences and think about a future that has already begun.
Why it’s worth seeing:
Last year’s bubbly Italian offering Weddings
and Other Disasters was so popular that the festival added a second
screening of the film. I’ve never seen that happen, so it’s an oddly
appropriate coincidence that the popular Italian cinema opens this year’s
festival. (Italy’s recent Oscar win for The
Great Beauty is also bound to bring additional interest to opening night.)
This picturesque film from director Francesca Comencini has all the female-filmmaker-friendliness
of EUFF’s 2014 slate. Comencini’s offering comes to Ottawa after debuting in
competition at the Venice Film Festival and, like her filmmaker sister Cristina
(director of Italy’s 2005 Oscar nominee Don’t
Tell), she’s one of several female filmmakers making waves in Italy and in
the international scene more broadly. (Plus, the Italian Embassy usually has
one of the better post-screening spreads of the festival!)
Estonia | Heilika Pikkov | 2013 | 70 min.
Sunday, Nov. 16 at 7:00 pm
Synopsis: Right
alongside Jerusalem, in a Russian Orthodox Convent in the Mount of Olives, in
the middle of the Arab quarter, lives the 82-year-old Estonian nun Mother
Ksenya.
Why it’s worth
seeing: The CFI festivals offer a healthy range of European cinema, yet
Estonia consistently proves itself one of the most formidable national cinemas
with each film that screen in Ottawa, such as Demons in 2013 and Living Images last year. These films, like the aforementioned Lisa Limone or other Estonian films like the doc Blood Type that played at Bright Nights,
showcase innovate talents with an eye for film form that simply isn’t matched
anywhere else. The critically-acclaimed Flowers
from the Mount of Olives is one of several documentaries screening at the
festival, and EUFF-goers are almost assured to see one of the most compelling
films of the line-up.
Sweden | Dir. Ruben Östlund | 2014 | 118 min.
Fri. Nov. 28 at 7:00 pm
Synopsis: A
Swedish family travels to the French Alps to enjoy a few days of skiing. The
sun is shining and the slopes are spectacular but, during a lunch at a
mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. With diners
fleeing in all directions, mother Ebba calls for her husband Tomas as she tries
to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life... The
anticipated disaster failed to occur, and yet the family's world has been
shaken to its core, a question mark hanging over their father in particular.
Tomas and Ebba's marriage now hangs in the balance as Tomas struggles
desperately to reclaim his role as family patriarch.
Why it’s worth
seeing: Force Majeur is one of
the biggest foreign critical hits of 2014. The film comes off the fall festival circuit where it drew
raves at TIFF following its well-received premiere at Cannes where it won the
Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard program. The film is now Sweden’s official
submission for Best Foreign Language Film and it’s arguably a top contender in
an increasingly competitive Oscar race.
Latvia |
Dir. Signe Baumane | 2014 | 88 min.
Fri. Nov. 28 at 9:15 pm
Synopsis: Signe
Baumane and five women in her family battle with depression and madness.
Why it’s worth
seeing: EUFF offers a double whammy of Oscar contenders on Friday night
with the back-to-back offerings of Force
Majeur and Rocks in My Pockets. Rocks in My Pockets might not have the
same high profile as Force Majeur does,
but this unique animated film has some extra edges for awards junkies: not only
is the film Latvia’s contender, but it’s also one of twenty animated features
in contention for the busy hurdle towards Best Animated Feature. Ottawa
cinephiles should make Rocks a
priority, though, since director Signe Bauman will be in the house to discuss
her eccentric film and since Rocks is
one of several EUFF titles without Canadian distribution, so chances are this
will be the only chance to see the film in Ottawa.
Poland | Dir. Wladyslaw Pasikowski | 2014 | 128 min.
Sat. Nov. 22 at 7:00 pm
Synopsis: This
gripping spy thriller tells the true story of a man who dares to challenge the
Soviet empire. While planning the maneuvers of the Warsaw Pact forces, Polish
army colonel Ryszard Kuklinski has access to top secrets. He gets to know that
the American nuclear counterattack against Soviet forces is planned to be
executed on Polish territory. Thanks to his determination, he starts a long,
lonely and psychologically exhausting cooperation with CIA. From that very
moment the life of his family and his own is in constant danger as one careless
move may lead to tragedy.
Why it’s worth
seeing: Jack Strong might be one
of the few EUFF films that could see a theatrical life outside the festival
since it co-stars Patrick Wilson (The
Conjuring) and Dagmara Dominczyk (The
Immigrant), but it easily looks like one of the most impressive films at
EUFF. Jack Strong screens on a night
of back-to-back of spy thrillers on November 22 with Hungary’s Ambassador to Bern preceding it, but this sleek Cold War
thriller, based on a true story, is reportedly a solid and engrossing film
experience.
The complete 2014 EUFF schedule may be found on the CFI’s website.
The 2014 European Union Film Festival runs Nov. 10-30.
All screenings take place at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St.
Please visit www.cfi-icf.ca for more info on films and tickets.
Advance tickets may also be purchased through Uniiverse.
Please visit www.cfi-icf.ca for more info on films and tickets.
Advance tickets may also be purchased through Uniiverse.
What films are you
planning to see at the EUFF?
