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April 23, 2024 | 19:00 | By Invitation
SCHEDULE
23 APRIL 2024
HERE
A moving tale of fleeting encounters aided by hot soup and lush mosses. In suburban Brussels, Stefan, an unassuming Romanian construction worker prepares to leave for home. He clears out his fridge and cooks a pot of soulful borscht, passing it on to fellow kindred spirits, sowing love one bowl at a time. A chance encounter with bryologist Shuxiu blossoms into a friendship as she opens his eyes to the once-invisible growth of mosses that thrive in the city’s crevices. Elegantly shot on 16mm, Here touches on the deep human desire for connection in a world of transience and movement.
About the Director: Bas Devos is a Belgian filmmaker known for his humanistic approach to filmmaking, often focusing on subtleties that evoke empathy. His film Ghost Tropic (2019), received critical acclaim in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
25 APRIL 2024
SALGUEIRO MAIA – O IMPLICADO (THE IMPLICATED)
Salgueiro Maia was the heroic army captain who commanded the military action during the revolution that overthrew the fascist regime in Portugal in April 1974. This powerful film tells the story of a Portuguese hero who asked nothing for himself but everything for his country. 25th April 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, one of the most remarkable events in Portugal’s contemporary history.
26 APRIL 2024
LUZZU
Jesmark, a Maltese fisherman, contends with a newfound leak in his wooden luzzu boat. Barely getting by, he sees his livelihood - and a family tradition from generations before him - imperiled by diminishing harvests, a ruthless fishing industry, and a stagnating ecosystem. Desperate to provide for his wife and their new-born son, whose growth impediment requires treatment, Jesmark gradually slips into an illicit black-market fishing operation.
27 APRIL 2024
DANCING QUEEN
Liv Elvira Kippersund Larsson, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Viljar Knutsen Bjaadal, Anders Baasmo
In this heart-warming, coming-of-age film, a 12-year-old girl falls in love with a famous dancer who moves to her town, and auditions for his crew - despite the fact that she cannot dance. Once in the dance crew, the shy and awkward seventh grader needs to work her way around figuring out who she is and what matters most to her.
28 APRIL 2024
125 Years Memory | Ertugrul 1890
On the stormy night of 16th September 1890, the Turkish frigate Ertugrul is caught up in a typhoon and sinks off the coast of Kushimoto, Japan. Risking their own lives, local villagers rescue 69 Turkish sailors. This story of friendship and compassion covers two episodes: The sinking of the Turkish frigate in 1890 and the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran in 1985.
THE CAKE DYNASTY
Niels Agger is a baker frustrated by life. His cake factory is on the brink of ruin and his numerous suicide attempts have failed. His wife, Else, tries to modernise the family-held factory with the help of her daughter and her blasé boyfriend with a new business strategy: Healthy weight-loss cakes. Niels is anything but enthusiastic about this concept and is much more interested in the new cleaning lady Zeinab who introduces him to her culture and calorie-rich confectionary. This satirical comedy addresses universal themes of family, health mania and culture clashes.
02 MAY 2024
AUSTRIA2AUSTRALIA
2 friends. 18,000 kilometres. 19 countries. A journey full of hardships, discoveries and challenges, which are as powerful as they are unpredictable. Sounds like a plan for hardened triathletes. But when Andreas Buciuman and Dominik Bochis - two averagely fit guys - decided on an adventure that would take them to the other side of their world, the bicycle seemed ideal. Their mode of travel - fast enough to cover the distance in about a year and slow enough for them to see and experience the world on the way. Austria2Australia documents a cycling quest across three continents while telling a compelling real life story of the power of dreams and the determination to translate them into reality with a set of wheels.
The film will be followed by a post-show online Q&A featuring protagonists Andreas Buciuman and Dominik Bochis, and moderated by Julia Henningsen.
03 MAY 2024
BOLERO
Paris, the Roaring Twenties. Choreographer Ida Rubinstein chooses Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. She wants something bold, something sensual. Well known and established, Ravel finds himself unable to write anything. Reliving his memories, facing his old loves and failures, the composer will give birth to his greatest success ever: the Bolero.
04 MAY 2024
*Scape Singapore youth short films
This year's festival continues EUFF's long tradition of collaborating with Singapore film-makers. This year's selection deepens this
partnership by presenting a look-back and look-ahead to the rich tradition of short films in Singapore.
EUFF partnership with *SCAPE, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Film & Media Studies; Nanyang Technological University (NTU) School
of Art, Design and Media; Lasalle College of the Arts and Yale-NUS College.
HERE
A moving tale of fleeting encounters aided by hot soup and lush mosses. In suburban Brussels, Stefan, an unassuming Romanian construction worker prepares to leave for home. He clears out his fridge and cooks a pot of soulful borscht, passing it on to fellow kindred spirits, sowing love one bowl at a time. A chance encounter with bryologist Shuxiu blossoms into a friendship as she opens his eyes to the once-invisible growth of mosses that thrive in the city’s crevices. Elegantly shot on 16mm, Here touches on the deep human desire for connection in a world of transience and movement.
About the Director: Bas Devos is a Belgian filmmaker known for his humanistic approach to filmmaking, often focusing on subtleties that evoke empathy. His film Ghost Tropic (2019), received critical acclaim in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
IL COMANDANTE
Set in 1940 with the backdrop of the Second World War, Il Comandante is a story of courage, valour and difficult choices. Salvatore Todaro is a Navy commander with destiny inscribed to his name, heading the submarine Cappellini despite an accident that would entitle him to a disability pension (as his wife Rina would like him to). But Commander Todaro does not know how to stay away from choppy waters. In October 1940, while sailing in the Atlantic, in the darkness of the night a merchant ship sailing with its lights off suddenly opens fire on the Cappellini. A brief but violent battle ensues which sees Todaro sinking the enemy ship. Then the commander makes a historic decision: to rescue the twenty-six Belgian castaways, as required by the law of the sea. To take them aboard, he is forced to make himself visible to enemy forces and risk his own life and that of his men.
05 MAY 2024
FALLEN LEAVES
In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance. What follows next is a series of mishaps from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses. Filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s 20th feature film features charming working-class characters whose lives are presented with a dash of rock and roll. Reconciling a range of emotions, this moving romance tugs at the heartstrings.
09 MAY 2024
LAKELANDS
Following a violent attack on a night out, Cian O’Reilly (Éanna Hardwicke), a promising young Gaelic footballer, sustains a life-changing injury. Cian, a young farmer, working contentedly alongside his father (Lorcan Cranitch) on the farm, partying with friends, and performing well on the pitch sees his world is shattered when a serious head injury forces him off the field. He struggles to reimagine his life without football and his identity in the small midlands town. Comfort arrives when an old girlfriend (Danielle Galligan) returns home to nurse her ailing father. The debut feature of writer/directors Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, Lakelands evocatively captures and celebrates lives that are multifaceted, complex and as dramatic as they are satisfying.
11 MAY 2024
FREE MONEY
Lives intersect through crypto’s allure, wealth’s pursuit, and lessons learnt in a rapidly evolving financial world. Taavi, an unwitting Bitcoin holder races to recover his lost fortune. Maximillion, a crypto entrepreneur, rides the turbulent waves of crypto's inception, facing hubris and redemption. Erik, a conservative banker, grapples with his son’s crypto success while navigating challenges in a changing financial landscape.
SECOND ACT | ANDRA AKTEN
Eva’s life is not great. Her husband has left her for their neighbour, her son is distant and she is on the brink of retirement. Just as she is despairing, one phone call changes everything. When established actor Harald Skoog has a stroke and needs help in his home Eva takes the job to escape from her loneliness. In the ensuing confrontation with the self-absorbed actor her life turns around. This is a story about friendship, hope and a reminder that it is never too late to dream of and to live the life you want to live.
12 MAY 2024
MAVKA : THE FOREST SONG
Based on the 1918 play The Forest Song by poet Lesya Ukrainka, this animation draws inspiration from Ukrainian and Slavic folk mythology. Young and naive forest spirit Mavka falls in love with a human musician, Lukas. As they grow closer to each other, an inevitable situation forces Mavka to choose between her love and her duty to protect the heart of the forest.
16 MAY 2024
TZAMAIKA (JAMAICA)
A taxi driver is trying to make ends meet and is staring at his debts. His brother, a famous television presenter, lives every day like it is his last one. Akis and Timos, estranged brothers are united at their mother’s funeral but do they have it in them to let go of their past? Find out in this moving and tender drama.
17 MAY 2024
MI GRAN NOCHE (MY BIG NIGHT)
In this romantic comedy, people’s personal lives clash and eventually explode in the open during the recording of a television New Year’s Eve programme. The plot centers around José, who is unemployed and gets a job as an extra in the television recording. Like him, hundreds of people have been locked up for a week and a half. They have to pretend to laugh, putting up a farce of ushering in the New Year. Surrounded by all this delusion and drama, love shows up in unexpected ways.
18 MAY 2024
SLOW
This moving film exploring the unconventional relationship that develops between a contemporary dancer and a sign language interpreter has been selected as Lithuania’s contender for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards (2024). As Elena and Dovydas dive into their relationship, they must navigate how to build their own intimacy after a disclosure in the early stages of their romance.
19 MAY 2024
ANSELM
Two of the most important artists of our time, painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, and filmmaker Wim Wenders, coalesce in the documentary film Anselm, to create a unique cinematic experience chronicling Kiefer’s art and life. For over two years, Wenders traced Kiefer’s path from his native Germany to his current home in France, making connections between his life, his locales, the cycles of history, and the sometimes harrowing course of human existence, across a prolific and profound career spanning more than five decades.
Doppelgänger. THE DOUBLE
With elements of a thriller and a spy film, Doppelgänger tells the story of Hans and Jan Bitner who live on opposite sides of the iron curtain. Hans lives in France where he seemingly leads a quiet life. Bitner is a Pole, involved in the fight for a free Poland. Their lives are different, but there is one detail that connects them. This film is inspired by true stories of special agents from Cold-War Poland. The movie is also a dark psychological tale about human tragedies and innocent victims of a ruthless spy operation, about the consequences of living a lie and about love that offers hope for redemption.
23 MAY 2024
DIE GOLDENEN JAHRE
A retired couple prepare to enjoy their life as pensioners on a cruise trip through the Mediterranean. They end up going on separate journeys of self-discovery and find unexpected ways to spend their golden years.
MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE
This delightful comedy takes the audience inside the wild, imaginative mind of Zelma as she goes on a 23-year quest for perfect love and lasting marriage.
24 MAY 2024
QUEEN MARIE OF ROMANIA (MARIA, REGINA ROM NIEI)
Devastated by the First World War and plunged into political controversy, Romania’s every hope accompanies its queen on her mission to Paris to lobby for international recognition of its great unification at the 1919 peace talks.
25 MAY 2024
BROTHERS
Stripped of their assets, brothers Radek and Josef believe the only way to fight oppression is with guns. Together with three friends, they form an underground army that is responsible for a series of violent acts leading to an investigation by State Security. This results in the Masin Brothers becoming the most wanted men in the country. This is the true story of two brothers who, in 1953, tried to escape communist Czechoslovakia to join the US army in West Berlin. What ensued was one of the largest manhunts in modern history. The brothers are still hailed by some as heroes and by others as murderers.
LARRY
This touching story of a young rapper growing up in a tough neighbourhood stars rising young actor Benett Vilmányi. Adam lives in isolation from society because of his serious stuttering. He works as a shepherd in Borsod, in one of the poorest but most beautiful regions of Hungary. One day he realises his stuttering stops when he starts rapping in rage. With his wild style and painfully honest lyrics, he becomes a sensation on YouTube (performing under the name Larry) and goes on to win a national online talent show with a song he wrote about his powerful, police officer father’s unforgivable sins. He makes it to the finals of the competition but finds he is unable to rap in front of people. To live up to his popular, online, alter ego, Adam has to battle his inner demons and face the strange authority of his father.