The tenth European Film Festival in South Africa is set to feature an inspired lineup of 16 new award-winning films from across the globe.
This year’s featured countries include Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. The festival will also feature an African-European co-production film set in Sudan.
Screenings are set to take place at The Labia in Cape Town and at Ster-Kinekor’s The Zone in Johannesburg. Durban’s Ster-Kinekor will also present a limited programme of films not available for online streaming.
Sandra Kramer, the European Union’s ambassador to South Africa, says this year’s event will showcase ‘some of the most acclaimed productions to have emerged from the film industries in the European Union and Europe, but the films provide thought-provoking perspectives on issues that are just as meaningful to South Africans as they are to people everywhere.’
‘We hope this festival will strengthen connections between Europe and South Africa, and its immediate neighbours, Eswatini and Lesotho. May this festival stimulate discussion and new ideas around our shared experiences, hopes and dreams, as together we face our ever-changing world.’
Under the theme ‘Transition’, the various films aim to provide a cinematic reflection of the transition people go through during these turbulent and fast-moving times, Bizcommunity reports.
Peter Rorvik, the festival co-director and curator, explains that there ‘can be numerous transitional moments in a lifetime; awakenings, re-awakenings, renewal of purpose, our self-understanding, of who we are, and our direction in life. Transition is, in essence, a response to change, a process of managing change, or making a change.’
‘All these elements of transition feature prominently in the line-up of films on offer this year. The illuminating power of cinema transports us deeply into these experiences, milestones, growth points and turning points, which offer resonance with our own life journeys, and the shared life journeys of those around us.’
The European Film Festival 2023 is presented in partnership with the European Union National Institutes for Culture, the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa and the participating European embassies of Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine; as well as the cultural agencies of British Council, Camoes Institute of Portugal, Diplomatic Representation of Flanders, French Institute in South Africa, Goethe-Institut and Italian Cultural Institute.
The festival includes two films that received the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year. To view the full list of films lined up for the screening, visit eurofilmfest.co.za
Details:
- Date: 12 to 22 October
- Location: The Labia Theatre, 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town
- Website: thelabia.co.za
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