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Europe on Screen taking cinema out of the art house
Reel life: The Europe on Screen film festival will bring more than 70 films to nine cities in the archipelago, including (from top to bottom), Metalhead, from Iceland; Delicacy, from France, with the ever-gamine Audrey Tatou; Clara and the Secret of the Bears from Switzerland; Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt, from Denmark; and Blancanieves, from Spain
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span class="inline inline-none">Reel life: The Europe on Screen film festival will bring more than 70 films to nine cities in the archipelago, including (from top to bottom), Metalhead, from Iceland; Delicacy, from France, with the ever-gamine Audrey Tatou; Clara and the Secret of the Bears from Switzerland; Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt, from Denmark; and Blancanieves, from Spain.
The Europe on Screen (EoS) ' Indonesia's own European film festival ' is coming back to local screens, looking to reaching bigger audiences throughout the archipelago.
The 14th edition of the festival will screen 71 films from 21 European countries and will go on the road to nine cities in Indonesia outside Jakarta, including Banda Aceh, Aceh; Bandung, West Java; Denpasar, Bali; and Medan, North Sumatra; from May 2 to 11.
'This year we're going to have it in nine cities, up from seven last year. We actually have more requests to go to other places, but they came in the last minute,' festival manager Suryani Liauw said during a recent visit to The Jakarta Post's office.
Festival director Orlow Seunke said that audiences in Jakarta would also be able to enjoy the movies, which are subtitled in Indonesian, in traditional layar tancep style, i.e., outside and in the open air.
Holding screenings outside cinemas, Seunke says, has always been his dream. 'We started in Tugu Kunstkring last year, and now we will go to Taman Kodok [Menteng, Central Jakarta] to cater to bigger audiences,' he said, adding that there would be more outdoor screenings at the Erasmus Huis cultural center.
Those willing to brave the elements will be able to catch, among other films, Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia, Iron Sky, Kon-Tiki and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
Seunke said the festival would have three main sections: Xtra, Discovery and Docu.
The Xtra section will have films that have won or were nominated for Academy Awards, were screened at the Cannes
Film Festival, feature famous actors or that have high production values.
Among the films in the section are Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards; The Hunt, which won Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen the best actor award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival; and Ken Loach's The Angel's Share, which won the Jury Prize at the 2012 Cannes.
In the Discovery section, EoS will present movies that are equally good as those screened in Xtra section but feature less known actors or directors, according to Seunke. Selections include Blancanieves from Spain, which ties the Snow White tale to the nation's bullfighting tradition; the domestic thriller Borgman from the Netherlands; Metalhead, a compelling story of an Icelandic girl who finds a refuge (of sorts) from grief in heavy metal music; and the nuanced family drama October November from Austria.
While for documentary section, the festival will screen movies with intriguing topics to show that non-fiction films can also be entertaining.
As examples, Suenke cited Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet, which follows a story of the guitar legend who continues to make music, despite his near-complete paralysis by Lou Gehrig's disease; Mission to Lars, which tells about one man's dream to meet Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich; and The Road Uphill, which explores the Tour de France cycling race.
A particular goal of the festival is to take European cinema out of the art house ghetto and show audiences that EU cinema is not inaccessible, such as by presenting the genre-bending, quasi sci-fi The Arrival of Wang from Italy or showing Delicacy, a delightful romantic comedy from France staring the gamine Audrey Tatou from Amelie.
EoS will also present seven movies for children and, in a special retrospective, four movies that feature Jacques Tati, the French comedian, actor and filmmaker known for his unconventional and pioneering use of sound.
Another highlight is discussions about filmmaking with international guest speakers, namely filmmaker Olivier Horlait, editor Nora Richter, filmmaker Joram Lürsen and Sandra Nettelbeck.
'The discussions can be good for film students or potential film makers. They can ask questions about the productions and it will be like an in-depth talk,' Seunke said.
He added that EoS would also have discussions and master's classes on animated movies and music scoring.
As usual, the EoS also has a short film competition to promote local filmmakers. The committee has received a total of 152 submissions and chosen 10 movies as the finalists.
Films will be assessed by a jury comprising the festival's overseas guests and the winner will be announced on closing night.
EoS was first held in 1990 as the 'EU Film Festival', with the second iteration held nine years later. It has been held annually in Indonesia since 2003 under the banner 'Europe on Screen'.
This year, organizers are targeting to attract 20,000 people to the event, which would be almost a 30 percent increase from the 15,555 viewers last year, a number that itself was up 96 percent from 7,900 people in 2011.
'People have started to see that European films are entertaining and fun. From what I've seen, the people who come are not just festival goers. Many of them come to watch movies about things they like, such as sports or music,' Suryani said.
In Jakarta, EoS will hold events at the Erasmus Huis, the Goethe-Institut Jakarta, the Institut Francais-Indonesia, the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, the Tarumanagara Knowledge Center (Untar) and Taman Kodok.
Admission to all events is free. For more information, visit europeonscreen.org.
