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European Film Festival 2011 in Colombo, Kandy, Jaff na, Galle The European Union Delegation, Goethe Institut, British Council, Alliance Francaise de Kotte, the French, Dutch, Swiss, Italian and Norwegian embassies and the Polish and Belgian Consulates in Sri Lanka, will officially launch the European Film Festival 2011 at a media conference held at Goethe-Institut Colombo on Thursday, 22 September 2011, 3.00 pm.
This is the fourth consecutive year that this event is taking place in Sri Lanka and this year the organising committee is chaired by the Goethe-Institut. Like in the past years the festival is supported by the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka.
For the first time, the film festival will be split into two sections. A premium line of recently released European cinema productions – half of them 35mm film copies – will be screened in Colombo only. The second section, focussing on children and youth cinema, will travel after the screenings in Colombo to Jaffna, Kandy and Galle.
The children and youth film section is offering a varied and high-quality programme that focuses on the interests, longings and problems of the young cinema audience. Films take us to unknown worlds or grant us completely new views of familiar surroundings, they influence our ways of living and thinking and have long been a fundamental part of the culture that will accompany us for a lifetime. This festival is a shared international cultural experience that aims to promote a friendly relationship and to increase the mutual understanding between European Nations and Sri Lanka.
One of the highlights of this year’s festival programme is the screening of the award winning documentary “Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisper”, the story of a 16-year old Sri Lankan girl who wants to become a mahout like her father. Director Arne Birkenstock as well as the local film crew will be present at the screening on Monday, 10 October at the National Film Corporation cinema hall.
The festival in Colombo will be held from 1 to 10 October 2011 with screenings each day at the National Film Corporation cinema hall and the Goethe-Institut at 3:30 and 6:30 pm. The festival programme in Colombo includes a total of 23 films. Entrance for all the films will be free of charge. Jaffna 14 – 16 October Centre for Performing Arts Theatre Complex Kandy 21 – 23 October E.L Senanayake Library Hall Galle 28 – 30 October Town Hall For further information contact: Forzia Warnacula Goethe-Institut Tel.: +94 11 2694562, 4712636-8 email: [email protected]
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01 – 10 October, 2011 in Colombo www.europeanfilmfestsrilanka.com PROGRAMME
Premium Line
English
Title
Original
Title
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Year Forma
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Director Run-
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Almanya – Welcome to Germany
Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland
Germany 2011 35 mm Yasemin Şamdereli
101’ Comedy/Drama The family portrayal tells a story of integrating into a new society while losing touch with other cross- cultures and generations.
More suitable for adults
Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer
Chandani und ihr Elefant
Germany 2009 DVD Arne Birkenstock
86’ Documentary/ Family
The documentary tells the story of the 16-year old girl Chandani from Sri Lanka who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and has to prove herself against the age-old male tradition in order to become a Mahout.
Closing film
Queen to play
Joueuse
France 2009 35 mm Caroline Bottaro
96’ Drama Sandrine Bonnaire and Kevin Kline shine in this sophisticated feel-good comedy set in idyllic Corsica. Middle-aged chambermaid Hélène's newfound obsession with the game of chess leads her to seek the tutelage of a reclusive American expat, transforming both of their ho-hum lives in the process.
More suitable for adults
A cat in Paris
Une vie de chat France 2010 DVD Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
62’ Animation This children’s animation film is
about the cat Dino who shares his
life between two houses. During
the day, he lives with Zoé, the only
daughter of Jeanne, a police
captain. During the night, he
clambers over the roofs of Paris in
More suitable for adults
the company of Nico, a very skillful
thief. Zoe has plunged herself into
silence following her father's
murder at the hands of gangster
Costa. Events will escalate the
night that Zoé comes across Costa
and his gang by surprise. A chase
ensues which continues until dawn
and will lead the characters to
cross paths, and to help or fight
each other, all the way to the
rooftops of Notre-Dame.
Made in Dagenham
Made in Dagenham
UK 2010 35 mm Nigel Cole 113’ Features The inspirational and feel-good story of Rita, a feisty factory worker who took on the biggest corporation in the world, Ford Motors. What started as a dispute over pay leads to an uprising amongst the women workers of 60s Britain that changed history.
For all audiences
Clash of civilization over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio
Scontro di Civilta'
per un ascensore
a Piazza Vittorio
Italy 2010 DVD Isotta Toso 96’ Drama Piazza Vittorio, Rome. A sudden death breaks the unstable balance of the “multi-ethnic crowd” in the old palace Umbertino. All of the tenants are potential killers, and all are to blame one another. They will, together, removing the numerous neighbourhood conflicts for a moment, to the commissioner to disclose the name of the assassin, instead of that one witness who can not speak, however: the elevator.
For all audiences
The Hell of '63
De hel van '63
Netherlands 2009 DVD Steven de Jong
105’ Drama/Sport Four stories typifying the spirit of the 10,000 skaters on that fateful freezing day in 1963.
For all audiences
Mirush Blodsbånd
Norway 2006 35 mm Marius Holst 107’ Drama Mirush leaves Kosovo hoping to find his father in Norway, who abandoned the family when Mirush was very young. Now the father runs a restaurant in Oslo, but he is also in deep debt to the Albanian Mafia. Mirush starts to work in his
For all audiences
fathers restaurant without letting him know that he is his son. Gradually they learn to know each other, but what Mirush discovers about his father is not something he is prepared to take. He is forced to make choices that have large consequences, for both of them.
The Orange Girl
Appelsinpiken
Norway 2009 35 mm Eva F. Dahr 81’ Drama In this film based on Josein Gaarders novel, young boy Georg from Oslo is the main character, who one day finds a long letter from his deceased father. The letter tells, among other things, about the father's youthful love for the mysterious "orange girl" (appelsinpiken), and leaves a mystery for Georg to solve. The story leaps back and forth between the father's letters to the future, the young boy's thoughts and the events of the father's life.
More suitable for adults
Will You Marry Us?
Die Standesbeamtin
Switzerland 2009 DVD Micha Lewinsky
90’ Fiction Rahel Hubli is employed as a civil registrar. She hasn't believed in the so-called “love of her life” in ages. But when a childhood friend, Ben, suddenly turns up, Rahel recalls again what it felt like to be in love. And that leads to even more problems, because Rahel is already married. And Ben would like to get married: by Rahel.
More suitable for adults
The Intruder
De indringer Belgium 2005 DVD Frank Van Mechelen
110’ Features Tom Vansant, a 40-year old doctor in Brussels, is desperately searching for traces of his daughter Louise who disappeared 18 months ago. In his search, he comes across another 16-year-old runaway who left her hometown in the Ardennes at about the same time as Louise disappeared. Although the girl refuses to talk about her past, Tom is convinced that she knows more about his daughter. He follows the girl to the Ardennes and lands in an unknown and dangerous environment where things are not what they seem and where hostile villagers don’t really care for
More suitable for adults
strangers.
Venice Wenecja Poland 2010 DVD Jan Jakub Kolski
110’ Family Issues, Historical/ Period
The year is 1939 and an 11 year-old boy, Marek, dreams of going to Venice. His plans are brutally cut short by the outbreak of war. His parents abandon him to the decaying family estate that is filled with numerous relatives - but he doesn't want to be there and seeks refuge in the flooded cellar, where he acts out his fantasies in an imaginary 'Venice'.
More suitable for adults
Aagaya Pookkal
Flowers of the sky Akasa Kusum Tamil Version
Sri Lanka 2009 35 mm Prasanna Vithanage
90’ Drama
Sandya Rani is an aging film star who was once the darling of the silver screen. Having lost fame and fortune in a changing world she now lives quietly obscurity. Rani is suddenly forced to come to terms with a dark secret of her past - a secret she thought had buried forever. As she confront the demons of her past, she journeys in search of a truth she abandoned long ago…
More suitable for adults
Children’s/Youth Line
Title
English
Original
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Year Forma
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Director Run-
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The Blind Flyers
Die Blindgänger
Germany 2003 DVD Bernd Sahling 87’ Family Marie and Inga are not much different to other girls their age – they just can’t see. For them this is perfectly normal, but the “gawpers” see things differently. The girls gain further evidence of this when they audition for a schoolboy band which needs new members. Despite their talent two blind girls wouldn’t give the band the glamorous image it is aiming for. Knowing this, Marie and Inga don’t let the experience dampen their spirits, and after overcoming many difficulties eventually success is theirs: Marie and Inga’s band “Blindflyers” is a resounding hit and a boy from Kazakhstan can return to his homeland.
Soulboy Soulboy Kenya, Germany
2010 35 mm Hawa Essuman, Tom Tykwer
61’ Drama As his father believes he has lost his soul, Abila (14) goes on a journey of initiations. In the slums of Nairobi he finds the ghost mistress Nyawawa, who gives him seven tasks to fulfil in order to
regain his father's soul.
Princes and Princesses
Princes et Princesses
France 2000 DVD Michel Ocelot 70’ Animation A series of six stories told by means of a shadow theater… A couple of creative and curious kids get together each night in an abandoned movie theater. With the help of an old projectionist, they create a whole other universe, becoming the heroes of the stories they’ve invented…
Fire in Babylon
Fire in Babylon
UK 2011 DVD Stevan Riley 83’ Comedy/ Drama/ History
Charting the glorious supremacy of the West Indies cricket team throughout the late 70s and 80s, this film describes how the bat and ball was more effective than gunfire in the battle against racial injustice and the struggle for black rights. It is told by the men who were there - such as Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Clive Lloyd.
The Illusionist
The Illusionist
UK 2009 DVD Sylvain Chomet
83’ Animation A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman. Their ensuing adventure changes both their lives forever.
Raise your head
Alza la testa Italy 2009 DVD Alessandro Angelini
86’ Drama Raise your head is the mantra that father Mero (Sergio Castellitto) repeats to his 17-year-old son Lorenzo (Gabriele Campanelli), to teach him pride and to help him become the boxing champ that he himself never was.
The last pulcinella
L'Ultimo Pulcinella
Italy 2008 DVD Maurizio Scaparro
89’ Drama This is the story of the often-difficult relationship between a young Neapolitan, in search of new creative inspirations and a life far away from his hometown, and a father who hardly manages to survive as a street artist, acting out the "Stories of Pulcinella" in the Piazzas of Naples.
Sniff the Dog
Snuf de Hond in Oorlogstijd
Netherlands 2008 DVD Barry Stone 97’ Family Orphan Tom and his dog Sniff help liberate a Frisian village during World War II.
Vitus Vitus Switzerland 2006 DVD Fredi M. Murer
120’ Fiction Vitus is a boy who almost seems to be from another planet: He has hearing like a bat, he plays piano like a virtuoso and studies encyclopaedias at the age of five. No wonder his parents begin to anticipate a brilliant future for him. They want Vitus to become a pianist. However, the little genius prefers to play in his eccentric grandfather’s workshop. He dreams of flying and of a normal childhood. Ultimately, with one dramatic leap, Vitus takes control of his own life…
Rascals On The Road
Mein Name ist Eugen
Switzerland 2005 DVD Michael Steiner
97’ Fiction The film is a coming of age story set in the 1960s, telling of 12-year-old Eugen and Wrigley's last summer of adventure. When Wrigley's parents announce their intention to pack him off to boarding school, the boys run away, hoping to find Fritzli Bühler, the “King of Rascals” in Zurich. But then the two boys bump into their Scouts group on the train and feel forced to join them to Ticino. From there they escape again and attempt to cycle back to Zurich, but the boys' disappearance is noticed and their parents get on their trail. As the boys continue their precarious journey over their Alps, they begin to doubt whether Fritzli Bühler really lives in Zurich and whether he actually exists at all.
Fancy Rains
Arumosam Vehi
Sri Lanka 2002 35 mm Priyantha Colombage
110’ Family The film, set in a village in the early 70's, tells the story of a circus group which arrives at a remote village and the consequences that follow.
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