The European Film Festival, a partnership project between the European Union and South Africa, comes back this week for its ninth edition.
The festival exists to bring award-winning European cinema to South African screens. This year it takes place from the 13 to 23 October.
The 2022 theme is Innocence and Beyond, exploring the concept of innocence as both a legal concept and a human quality. Sixteen award-winning films will be screened, with half of them by women directors.
EU Ambassador to South Africa, Sandra Kramer, says: “The festival’s theme tries to capture our loss of innocence on a number of levels as we deal with the present and lay foundations for the future. I invite you to join us for the best of European cinema: award-winning films that will not only offer a temporary escape, but also a space for pause and reflection.”
There will be screenings of the films both online and in-person. Magdalene Reddy, the festival’s co-director, explained that they want to continue to cater for the viewers who have become accustomed to watching films in the comfort of their own homes, whilst also providing for those who wish to return to the full cinema experience.
The films will be available for online screening here, and will also be screened at the Labia theatre.
Also read: The Labia sits with the famous Chinese Theatre in LA in world’s most beautiful cinemas
Here’s what you can watch:
Ali and Ava – United Kingdom
- Language: English
Both lonely for different reasons, Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for the child of Ali’s Slovakian tenants, whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness and Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humour irresistible. Over a lunar month, sparks fly and a deep connection begins to grow. However, the legacy of Ava’s past relationship and Ali’s emotional turmoil at the breakdown of his marriage begins to overshadow their newfound passion.
Enveloped in music and imbued with humour, Ali and Ava is a compelling contemporary love story written and directed by one of the UK’s most distinctive cinematic voices, Clio Barnard. Already the winner of Best Actor and Best Music prizes at the British Independent Film Awards, and with a BAFTA nomination for Most Outstanding British film, Ali and Ava is a worthy follow-up to Barnard’s The Arbor, The Selfish Giant and Dark River.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Sunday 23 October
- Time: 6pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
As far as I can Walk – co-production
- Languages: French, English, Serbian, with English subtitles
Labia screening:
- Date: Friday 21 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Brighton 4th – Georgia
- Languages: Georgian, Russian, English, Kazakh, with English subtitles
In this portrait of parental sacrifice and the love of a father for his son, former wrestler Kakhi (played by real-life Olympic champion Levan Tediashvili) travels from the Republic of Georgia to visit his son Sosi in Brooklyn, New York. Sosi stays in a shabby boarding house populated by a colourful group of fellow Georgian immigrants. Kakhi sets himself to helping his hapless son get out of debt, leading to situations as often comic as they are dire.
A character-driven tragicomedy with surprising emotional weight, Brighton 4th offers an authentic look at immigrant hardships and celebratory joys. The mix of professional and non-professional actors adds to the film’s naturalism. Brighton 4th was Georgia’s submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Tuesday 18 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Do Not Hesitate – Netherlands
- Language: Dutch with English subtitles
During a foreign peacekeeping mission in the middle of desolate mountains three young Dutch soldiers are left to guard a military vehicle by themselves. As their situation and the scorching desert heat renders them increasingly disconnected from reality, an encounter with a local boy precipitates a series of events that will mark their lives forever.
There are no war battles in this film; war is the background context for a clash between duty, pragmatism, and idealism. Ultimately, immaturity and inexperience will lead to loss of innocence and reflection on life’s big questions. Outstanding performances from the young cast and a tight, taut storyline in this psychological thriller earned it selection as the Dutch entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Saturday 22 October
- Time: 4pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Great Freedom – Austria
- Language: German with English subtitles
In post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalizes homosexuality. Over the decades, he develops an unlikely bond with his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer in it for the long haul.
Forget the cliches about gay stories and about prison life, this is about an unapologetic man seeking his own freedom on his own terms. The film also goes beyond the historic repeal of Paragraph 175 and the pseudo-freedom it brings Hans, it explores tenderness, love, lost time, and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Amongst its 30 wins and 28 nominations Great Freedom won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes in 2021 then scooped another 5 prizes at the annual Austrian Film Awards in 2022. Great Freedom was selected as Austria’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Wednesday 19 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
I’m Your Man – Germany
- Language: German with English subtitles
In order to obtain research funds for her studies, a scientist accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: for three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot tailored to her character and needs, and created to make her happy. Witty and delightfully entertaining, this spunky sci-fi dramedy asks good questions about what humans want in relationships and if AI beings should have rights.
I’m Your Man is a powerful and cerebral follow-up to Maria Schrader’s Love Life, Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe, Unorthodox and others. Amongst its many achievements it won four top prizes at the 2021 German Film Awards and took a Silver Bear Award at the Berlinale. I’m Your Man was Germany’s submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Friday 14 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Klondike – Ukraine
- Language: Ukrainian, Russian, Chechen, with English subtitles
July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. Tolik’s separatist friends expect him to join their efforts, while Irka’s brother is enraged by suspicions that the couple has betrayed Ukraine. Irka refuses to be evacuated even as the village gets captured by armed forces, and she tries to make peace between her husband and brother by asking them to repair their bombed house. Meanwhile their nervous anticipation of their first child’s birth is violently disrupted by the nearby crash of flight MH1. The incoming parade of mourners emphasizes the surreal trauma of the moment.
Klondike has already won 13 awards this year, including World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance, and the Ecumenical Panorama Prize at the Berlin Film Festival.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Thursday 13 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Olga – Switzerland
- Languages: French, Ukrainian, Russian, with English subtitles
Olga is a teenage Ukrainian gymnast living in exile in Switzerland, dreaming of Olympic gold and trying to fit in with her new team. As the young girl prepares for the European Championships, the Euromaïdan revolt breaks out in Kyiv, suddenly involving everyone she cares about. Olga is left a powerless, distant bystander as her mother, an investigative journalist, faces danger.
Incorporating documentary footage from the 2013 uprising, Olga is a tense, sensitively handled tale of exile reflecting the clash between the personal and the political in a young woman’s search for identity. Starring gymnast Nastya Budiashkina as Olga, this outstanding feature film debut by director Elie Grappe won the prize for Best Screenplay at the 74th International Critics Week in Cannes. The film also won the Best Feature Film, the Best Screenplay and the Best Sound at the 2022 Swiss Film Awards and was Switzerland’s submission to the Academy Awards in 2022.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Sunday 16 October
- Time: 6pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Petite Maman – France
- Language: French with English subtitles
8-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.
In this tender tale of childhood grief, memory and connection, Céline Sciamma continues to prove herself as one of the most accomplished and unpredictable contemporary French filmmakers with this follow up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), demonstrating unique skill in taking us into the world of children.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Saturday 22 October
- Time: 6pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Playground – Belgium
- Language: French with English subtitles
When seven-year-old Nora witnesses her big brother Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora tries to find her place, torn between children’s and adult’s worlds.
With the camera rigged at Nora’s height we experience every emotion Nora feels. This powerful filmic choice emphasizes grown-ups’ inability to understand the complexities of the playground, and their impotence when it comes to stopping bullying and violence, most of which they witness too late.
Amongst its numerous awards and accolades Playground won the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. At Belgium’s Magritte Awards, it was nominated for ten awards and won seven, including Best First Feature Film and Best Director for Wandel. Playground was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Saturday 15 October
- Time: 6pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Silent land – Poland
- Languages: Polish, English, Italian, French, with English subtitles
A young couple rents a holiday home on a sunny Mediterranean island. A terrible accident occurs, the police investigate, fear replaces happiness, and the characters start to unravel, putting their relationship at risk. With undercurrent questions about migration pricking away in the background, this portrayal of how easily things can go wrong raises direct questions about what really is innocence? Is it about something one did or did not do? Is it about action or inaction?
Director Agnieszka Woszczyńska puts her film into focus: ‘Silent Land is not only about the collapse of a relationship, but also about the collapse of the value system in the modern world, the general indifference to reality, and social lethargy. Ultimately, Silent Land is a tale about alienation, not only from each other, but also from the world. It’s about conformity and passivity, where the need for safety and convenience is a strategy for survival.’
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Thursday 20 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
Small Body – Italy
- Language: Italian with English subtitles
Italy, 1900. Young Agata’s baby is stillborn and so condemned to Limbo. Agata hears about a place in the mountains, where infants can be brought back to life for just one breath, time enough to baptize them and save their soul. She undertakes a voyage with her daughter’s small body hidden in a box and meets Lynx, a solitary boy who offers to help her. They set off on an adventure which will enable both to come close to a miracle.
This extraordinary women-driven film is imbued with a fairy tale quality, with its sparse and always meaningful dialogue allowing the images to convey the drama, the moods and majesty of the journey. Small Body had its premiere in the La Semaine de la Critique programme in Cannes, and amongst numerous awards already achieved by the film Laura Samani was named Italy’s Best New Director at the 2022 David di Donatello Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Saturday 15 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
The Emigrants – Sweden
- Language: Swedish with English subtitles
Driven by hope, bound by love. Based on the acclaimed 1949 literary classic by Vilhelm Moberg, and a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, The Emigrants is an epic period drama about a poverty-stricken family who emigrates from Sweden to the United States in the 1800s. Erik Poppe’s direction is superb, accompanied by gorgeous cinematography and soundtrack, but importantly, this interpretation is now being told on film for the first time from a woman’s perspective, as we follow Kristina’s journey of both discovery and self-discovery.
Countless challenges await as the family looks for a second chance in life, in a promised land that does not always meet their expectations. It’s about a quest to find a place of belonging, a questioning about where and what is home. Ultimately, like the stories of migration in our current era, it’s about a journey of hope. For brave-hearted mothers everywhere.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Sunday 16 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
The Good Boss – Spain
- Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Blanco (Javier Bardem), the charismatic owner of a family-run factory, is under pressure as he covets a local award for business excellence. Everything needs to be perfect! But the veneer of the perfect company cracks as Blanco has to deal with a vengeful fired worker, a depressed supervisor, and an infatuated ambitious intern. To win the competition, the manipulative “good boss” shamelessly meddles in his employees’ private lives and crosses every line imaginable, unknowingly starting an explosive chain reaction with wild consequences.
The Good Boss scooped a record-breaking 20 nominations at the 36th Spanish Goya Film Awards, winning 6 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score and Best Editing). It was also the Spanish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Saturday 22 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
The Metamorphosis of Birds – Portugal
- Language: Portuguese with English subtitles
‘When we forget a person who has died, they die for a second time’ – this is what Catarina Vasconcelos tries to prevent with her very bold and unorthodox form of story-telling in The Metamorphosis of Birds. It is an extraordinary homage to her family in which Vasconcelos sifts through the memories and dreams of her ancestors. Unfolding as a generational saga, told in shards of memory and voiceover, this eloquent and exquisitely shot dramatized documentary demonstrates how something deeply personal can be profoundly universal.
Along with notching up over 20 notable festival wins The Metamorphosis of Birds won five awards at the Portuguese Film Academy Sophia Awards in 2022, included Best Director and Best Documentary Feature. The film was Portugal’s submission to the 94th Academy Awards earlier this year. The Metamorphosis of Birds also has an exceptional 100% rating on the renowned Rotten Tomatoes film review aggregator.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Monday 17 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
The Worst Person in the World – c0-production
- Language: Norwegian with English subtitles
This film will only screen for 3 days, from 14 to 16 October.
This modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo chronicles four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve), a young woman navigating the troubled waters of her love life and struggling to find her career path. It is a warts-and-all journey of self-discovery, as she endeavours, with authentic human imperfections, to take a realistic look at who she really is.
Fluidly told in twelve chapters, this contemporary psychological drama is the third film in a trilogy by Joachim Trier, who describes it as “a coming-of-age film for grownups who feel like they still haven’t grown up.” The mesmerising Renate Reinsve won the Best Actress prize at Cannes for her emotionally intricate and exhilarating character study of Julie. The film received two Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards in 2022.
– European Film Festival
Labia screening:
- Date: Sunday 23 October
- Time: 8.15pm
- Cost: R70
Watch the trailer here:
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Picture: Unsplash
