FILM PROGRAM 2019

The main sections CURRENT, RELEVANT CINEMA and DOCUMENTARIES OPEN DEBATES as well as SHORT FILMS, BIG STORIES are bringing to the Dutch and international audience in the Netherlands films that have a critical eye on our social reality. These films often deal with urgencies, and convey compelling human stories that reflect East and South-East Europe still burdened by the transitional period between communism and democracy, economic turbulence, unemployment and a massive brain drain. At the same time, they are confronted with the logistical and social challenges of mass immigration.

During the Festival, it will be exactly 30 years since the East German government announced – on 9 November 1989 – that from that moment on, all GDR citizens were free to travel to West Germany and West Berlin. The whole of Europe celebrated. Today, 30 years later, Europe builds new walls and becomes increasingly divided. Our FOCUS program EUROPE, 30 YEARS AFTER THE BERLIN WALL brings some older films reflecting on Europe during and after the Berlin Wall, but also new and alarming films that mirror strongly the current situation and the re-establishment of divisions in cities, countries and among people.

Since the stories from divided Mostar, Mitrovica and other places in Europe are part of our Focus program Europe, 30 Years After the Berlin Wall, we have chosen the opening film accordingly. An alarming human story from Ukraine about an 80-year-old charming lady living in totally new circumstances. MY GRANNY FROM MARS, a Belarus-Ukrainian-Estonian coproduction and the debut of Alexander Mihalkovich, is an intimate, yet very political tale of the filmmaker’s grandmother who lives in Crimea and due to known circumstances ends up being totally cut off from her family.

While the opening film deals with divided Europe today, we close the festival by going 30 years back in time, when regimes, rulers and norms changed overnight. In his brilliant film SWEET EMMA, DEAR BOBE (1992) that was recently restored, Istvan Szabo deals with the destinies of Russian language teachers in Hungary whose knowledge and services are no longer required. The film is also memorable for the remarkable performance of the Dutch actress Johanna ter Steege who will be our special guest.

Not seldom have migrants made tremendous contributions to their new homelands, either in politics, art, culture or science. In our FOCUS program we show works by people who contributed considerably to the film world of Western-Europe where they live, while originally coming from East and South East Europe. At the same time, the program aims to show how revitalized contemporary European cinema is, how an eclectic mix of non-Western traditions, cultural connotations and sensibilities are creating the new identity of European cinema. We also present a few films made by Western filmmakers that look at the lives of migrants in their homelands.

Gifted new voices, among whom are several strong female directors, have already being spotted and presented at big festivals like Berlin, Cannes, Rotterdam, Venice and IDFA. However, distribution of their films in the West is rare. That’s why we put in the limelight several compelling, exciting films from Bulgaria that reflect the spirit of today’s society. That is why we put our limelight on its new directors in the section BULGARIAN NEW VOICES.

For many years ENFF has featured the section OLD GOLD, dedicated to the films that survived political and social changes in the countries where they were made and prove to be still relevant, being watched and loved by new generations. This year, the program is called GRAND LOVE AFFAIRS and brings two beautiful love films. One from Poland: “A Year of the Quiet Sun” (1984), by one of the masters of European cinema, Krzysztof Zanussi. And the Bosnian film “Kuduz” (1989) by director Ademir Kenovic, made just in the eve of the ex-Yugoslav tragedy.

For the first time this year, ENFF will be launching a program for the whole family – parents and children. In our small CHILDREN’S PROGRAM, we have chosen two exciting films from Slovenia and Croatia, that have become a huge hit at home and travelled internationally with success.

ALL FILMS: here
TIMETABLE: here
TIMETABLE PDF: here
TICKETS: here