THIS year’s European Film Festival at Cinema Nouveau celebrates the role of women in film, both in front and behind the camera.
The festival, which runs nationally from today until May 17, is themed A Woman’s World and features award-winning films including the winner of this year’s best foreign language Oscar, Ida. Eleven of the 12 films being screened have never played in South Africa before. The films are: Ida: the first Polish feature to win an Oscar for best foreign language film, this was co-produced by Eric Abraham, owner of The Fugard Theatre in Cape Town. Set in 1960s Poland, it tells the story of a young woman who is about to take vows to become a nun when she discovers some dark secrets about her family.
Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night): The most recent project by the multi-award-winning Dardenne brothers, this features Oscar-nominated Marion Cotillard as a woman who has one weekend to persuade her colleagues to give up a significant bonus they have accepted so she can be dismissed.
En chance til (A Second Chance): Directed by Susanne Bier (the only Danish woman to direct two Oscar-nominated films, she won for In a Better World), this is a drama about how easy it is to lose your sense of justice when confronted by the unthinkable.
3 Coeurs (3 Hearts): This French romantic drama stars film legend Catherine Deneuve.
Amour fou: Directed by Jessica Hausner, this Austrian tragi-comedy was inspired by the life and death of poet Heinrich von Kleist who tried hard to convince his sceptical female cousin to enter into a suicide pact with him.
Betoniyö (Concrete Night): Finnish female director Pirjo Honkasalo’s film is a dream-like odyssey through Helsinki.
Die geliebten Schwestern (Beloved Sisters): Aristrocratic sisters Charlotte and Caroline both fall for a rebellious poet and defy conventions of the time to share him.
Il capitale umano (Human Capital): Two of Italy’s leading actress – Valeria Golina and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – star in this murder mystery.
Brozer (Frailer): With humour and sincerity, Dutch female director Mijke de Jong draws an intimate portrait of the way we face death.
Blood of my Blood: Rita Blanca anchors this family drama set in the outskirts of Lisbon, about the lengths two women go to in order to protect their family. – Film Writer
• The 10-day screening programme is available at www.cinemanouveau.co.za and the films play at Cinema Nouveau Theatres at the V&A Waterfront (Cape Town), Rosebank Mall (Joburg), Brooklyn Mall (Pretoria) and Gateway (Durban.)