THE EUROPEAN Film Festival is not quite up for its reggae re-mix, but the 2006 staging finds the nine-year-old festival moving to the Bob Marley Museum at 56 Hope Road. The festival was launched at Bob's Café on Monday morning.
Since its inception, the festival has been positioned as a cultural exchange and it is hoped that removal to the Bob Marley Museum will enhance that. The theatre has a capacity of 80 persons and additional parking along neighbouring streets is being arranged.
This year's festival features 10 films from four countries - Spain, France, Germany and Belgium - and runs from Saturday, May 20, to Monday, May 29. Spain and France both contribute three films.
FRENCH FILMS
The festival opens and closes with two of the French films - the comedy Games of Love and Chance, a youth-oriented film which earned four Cesar Awards, and Work Hard, Play Hard. Games of Love and Chance, which opens the festival, is directed by Abdel Kechiche and is a coming-of-age film set in a Parisian housing project.
The additional French films are dramas. Right Now (Wednesday, May 24) is the story of a sexy, free-spirited art student who joins a bank robber on the run. The film is directed by Benoit Jacquot. A tale of decent into indecency, Work Hard, Play Hard, directed by Jean-Marc Martout, closes the festival on Monday, May 29.
The Spanish films bring sex, comedy, music and drama to the festival. Solas, written and directed by Benito Zambrono, is a tale of loneliness. It will be shown on Sunday, May 21. The second Spanish instalment comes on Thursday, May 25, via Carol's Trip. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, the film details a young girl's journey into womanhood. The sexy musical comedy The Other Side of the Bed rounds out the Spanish contributions on the penultimate day of the festival, Sunday, May 28.
Belgium and Germany each make two contributions. The first of Belgium's contributions (Monday, May 22) is the drama Hop, a story of struggle and racism, directed by Dominique Standeart. The second Belgian film is the romantic dramedy Steve and Sky which will be shown Monday, May 26. Steve and Sky is the tale of a romance between a small-time hoodlum and a prostitute.
The two German films are Rossini (Tuesday, May 23) and Comedian Harmonists (Saturday, May 27). Directed by Helmut Dietl, Rossini, a comedy surrounding the filmmaking business, shows colliding egos and the pursuit of a beautiful woman. Comedian Harmonists is a biopic, detailing the rise and fall of the sextet by the same name.
The festival is presented by the European Union Missions and Honorary Consulates in Jamaica. However, though there are fewer number of contributing missions and consulates this year, the organisers assured that the diversity had not lessened. Ambassador Herman Portocarero of Belgium noted that in up coming years there would be a more deliberate attempt to keep the offerings diverse. "We'll make sure that the palate is not only diverse but also changing," he said.
Additionally, Ambassador Volker Schlegel of Germany noted that there was significant interest from his country, which resulted in more films than could be included in the festival. As such, arrangements are being made to show them later in the year.
All shows begin at 8:00 p.m. and foreign language films will be subtitled in English.
- T.B.-S.
