Two cities to host starry festival of European films

Polish movie The Peasants will open the European Film Festival 2024 on November 14 at the National Cinema Centre. Photo courtesy of EU Delegation

HÀ NỘI - The European Film Festival (EUFF) will return with a special autumnal edition to treat movie buffs to a series of award-winning movies.

The festival will take place at Hà Nội's National Cinema Centre and HCM City's from November 14 to 18.

Eighteen stunning movies from European countries will present a cast of ordinary characters who find themselves in circumstances that are anything but business-as-usual.

Most of the movies are award-winning, having been nominated at some of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival will open in Hà Nội with the Polish animation The Peasants – based on one of Poland’s classic works of literature.

It won the Special Jury Prize, the Best Film (Audience Award), the Crystal Star Elle Prize and Chopard Loves Cinema Prize, at the Polish Film Festival 2023.

The following evening, the festival will move to HCM City with the opening film from Spain, 20,000 Species of Bees. The movie – set in the beautiful Basque country - is a moving tale of a transgender girl, her search for identity, and her connections with the loving family.

It won Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale International Film Festival 2023, Best Feature Film at the Seattle International Film Festival 2023, and Best Feature Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival 2023.

Not just a film about a transgender child, it is an intergenerational portrait about identity and acceptance in the family, about the construction of gender relationships, tradition and change, but above all about the need to be loved.

The movie will be screened on November 15 and 19.

A still from Spanish 20,000 Species of Bees. The actress Sofía Otero won Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale International Film Festival 2023. Photo courtesy of EU delegation

The Italian film There's Still Tomorrow directed by its lead actor Paola Cortellesi in 2023, will also be shown. It won Best Film, the Special Jury Award and the Audience Award at the Rome Film Festival 2023, best film at the Sydney Film Festival 2024 and at the Göteborg Film Festival 2024.

The black-and-white, neorealist-inspired tragicomic melodrama about an abused wife in post-World War II Rome topped the box office in Italy in 2023. It will be screened on November 16 and 27.

Denmark will introduce its latest movie Sons on November 16 and 26. It was honoured with a Young Cinema award at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2024. The director of this tight little psychodrama is Gustav Möller, whose mastery of dramatic tension was displayed in the low-budget 2018 hit The Guilty.

Sons was Denmark’s entry at the Berlin Film Festival and follows a similar model of terse storytelling. The movie will be on screen November 16 and 26.

Then, for movie aficionados, there is a rare chance to watch the Delusions of Grandeur, one of French cinema’s classic satirical comedies that revolves around the theme of power. The 108-minute film was made by director Gérard Oury in 1971, starring two icons from the French entertainment industry the late greats, Louis de Funès and Yves Montand.

Curtain up for this film November 20 and 23.

In addition to the daily screenings, EUFF will feature a series of exciting side events, including three in-depth workshops specifically designed for Vietnamese film professionals and led by European experts, an online film review competition and post-screening discussions with the audience moderated by film critic Lê Hồng Lâm.

For all information on EUFF, including full line-up of films, schedules, and tickets, please refer to the official festival website at eeas.europa.eu/euff-vietnam-2024

The festival is co-held by the EU Delegation to Việt Nam, in cooperation with embassies and cultural institutions representing EU member countries. - VNS