EU film festival in Delhi

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Courtesy UNI

A bouquet of films providing vivid reflections of the socio-economic life in various European countries will be on show at a festival of European films starting March 3 in Delhi.

About 19 films, highlighting the best cinema from Europe, will be screened at the eleventh edition of the European Union Film Festival, to be held here till March 10.

The festival will open with the screening of the Austrian movie 'My Russia', winner of the Max ophuls Prize for Best Film in 2002, at the Siri Fort Auditorium on the evening of March 3.

Gracing the opening ceremony will be Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni and Austrian Director Barbara Graftner.

Almost all the movies to be screened at the EU film festival have been awarded prestigious prizes in recent years such as 'The Kiss' (which has won the Platinum award), 'Kolya' (which in 1996 won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film), 'Gille's Wife' (which won the CICAE award at the Venice Film Festival in 2004) and 'Hector' (which won awards for Best Movie and Best actress at the Festival of Malaga).

Started in 1986, the EU Film Festival has been organised every two years by the Delegation of the European Commission in collaboration with the EU member states' missions in India and the Directorate of Film Festivals in the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

This year, besides showcasing 19 of its films in Delhi, one each from an EU member state, the festival will hold a screening of 17 films in the cities of Kolkata, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.

While the festival will be held in Kolkata from March 17 to 24, it will be held in Chennai from March 24 to 31 and in Thiruvannanthapuram from April 4 to April 11.

The entry to the festival will be free of cost, on a first come first serve basis, for all movies. All the films screeend at the festival will be subtitled in English.

''By presenting a selection of modern European Cinema to the Indian public, the festival aims at projecting the excellence of the European film art, contributing to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures and to the promotion of mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation among Indian and European citizens,''the organisers of the festival said.

''The event symbolises an important facet of the growing cultural relations between the EU and India, reinvigorated in the last six years with the organisation of the EU-India Summits and the recent Action plan established at the 6th EU-India SUmmit in September 2005,''they said.

Among the films to be screened at the festival are ''(Czech republic), 'Under the Stars' (Cyprus), 'Dog Nail Clipper'(Finland), 'Viper In the Fist' (France), 'The Cistern'(Greece), 'Mystics' (Ireland), 'The Soul's Haven' (Italy), 'Zus and Zo' (Netherlands), 'Escape to Budin' (Slovakia), 'Cheese and Jam' (Slovenia) and 'Topsy Turvy' (UK).