Culturally connected through movies

The best of European cinema at the European Film Festival

Movie lovers, rejoice. The European Film Festival will hit the screens of Colombo this November with nine carefully selected films depicting the best of European cinema at the main event this year.
The film festival in Sri Lanka will be held from November 7 to 15, with the main screenings at BMICH each day at 5 pm and 7 pm with nine films of 35 mm. Meanwhile the fringe festival with DVD screenings of 21 films will take place simultaneously at the British Council, Goethe Institute and the Alliance Francaise. A selection of short films directed by young Sri Lankan film makers will be presented before the screening of each feature film.
From the classical masterpiece of cinematography ‘Madame Bovary’ from France, to Norway’s 2005 Oscar entry ‘Kissed by Winter’, from bittersweet UK drama ‘I know you know’ to the poignant ‘La finestra di fronte’ or ‘Facing Windows’ from Italy, the selection of movies indicate the depth and variety of European cinema.
Some of the movies scheduled to be screened at the BMICH include, Kissed by Winter (Norway), Skin (UK), Auf der anderen Seite (Germany) Agata e la tempesta (Italy), Sisters-in-law (UK), Kirschluten- Hanami (Germany), Min misunmelligefrisor (Norway) and Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (France).
The festival will start with a bang as the organisers have decided to screen Lester James Peiris’s Gamperaliya for the opening night. The movie, first released in 1963 was restored and screened at the Cannes Film Festival this year and the French Embassy has obtained one of the two only existing copies in the world.
The European Film Festival is organised by the Alliance Française de Colombo and the Embassy of France, the Consulate of Belgium, the Embassy of Switzerland, the Embassy of Italy, the Embassy of Norway, the Embassy of Sweden, the Embassy of The Netherlands, the Consulate of Spain, Consulate of the Slovak Republic, the British Council, the Goethe-Institut in association with Bandaranayake Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), The Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage and National Film Corporation (NFC).
The event aims to be a cultural bridge between the European Nations and Sri Lanka and is the ideal opportunity for movie lovers to witness a cross selection of contemporary and classical movies from the continent that gave birth to the cultural renaissance.