From June 15 to 26 at the Cineteca Rosalío Solano, the European Film Festival will be held, made up of ten films from Malta, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, Greece, Italy, Austria and Portugal.
These films that were released between 2018 and 2021 will arrive to be screened for free, offering content for children and adults. Admission will be free, and all performances start at 8:00 p.m., except for Even mice belong in heavenwhich will be screened at 12:00.
BILLBOARD
Luzzu / Alex Camilleri
Location: Malta, USA. 2021
Synopsis: Jesmark is a fisherman who must make a strong decision: he can repair his luzzu (a traditional fishing boat made of multicolored wood) to earn a living at sea like his ancestors and thus support his wife and newborn son. or you can dismantle it and join a sinister black market fishing ring. The film recovers the neorealist tradition to explore the harsh reality of the Mediterranean
Date and time: June 15 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
The Girls / Pilar Palomero
Place: Spain. 2020
Synopsis: Between the repressive religious ideology and the cosmopolitan effervescence of the time, a teenager will discover many truths and some lies along the way. It is the portrait of today’s generation of women, drawn through the education they received in the early 90s in Spain.
Date and time: June 16 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Gods of Molenbeek / Aatos ja amine / Reetha Huntanen
Place: Finland, Belgium, Germany. 2019
Synopsis: The Molenbeek district of Brussels has become notorious as a center of jihadist terrorism. Filmmaker Reetta Huhtanen captures the area through the eyes of Aatos and Amine, two imaginative boys who live in the same building. Aatos is of Finnish descent, while Amine is a Muslim; together they reflect on God, religion and the meaning of life. With refreshing clarity, the children strip spirituality down to its basic principles and question knowledge itself.
Date and time: June 17 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Let there be light / Nech je svetlo / Marko Skop
Place: Slovakia, Czech Republic. 2019
Synopsis: During Christmas in a Slovakian town, Milan, who works in Germany, returns to be with his family. However, the festive atmosphere changes when he discovers that his eldest son, Adam, is a member of a paramilitary youth group and may be involved in the death of a classmate. The film reflects on the fragility of family ties and moral responsibility in a world where xenophobia seems to prevail over empathy.
Date and time: June 18 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Even Mice Belong to Heaven / Mysi patri do nebe / Jan Bubenicek, Denisa Grimmova
Place: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Poland. 2021
Synopsis: A little mouse and a fox arrive in animal heaven after an unfortunate accident. Although they were enemies during their life, in the heavenly heights they develop mutual trust and become best friends. And so they would like to continue when they return to earth, but they are reborn with swapped bodies. The film combines stop-motion figures and 3D animation in an emotional fable about friendship, overcoming prejudice and new beginnings.
Date and time: June 19, 12:00 p.m. Free entry.
Pause / Pafsi / Tonia Mishialli
Location: Cyprus, Greece. 2018
Synopsis: Trapped in the misery of an oppressive marriage, Elpida faces the first signs of menopause, and both her mind and body are affected. Reality begins to mix with violent fantasies in which her true self emerges. The situation will get out of control when she meets a young painter and her husband sells her car. Pause is a crude but quite realistic portrait of European patriarchal societies in which the subordination of women is still taken for granted
Date and time: June 22 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Oleg/ Juris Kursietis
Place: latvia, belgium, lithuania, france. 2019
Synopsis: Oleg is a young butcher from Latvia who comes to Brussels hoping to make a living in a meat factory. However, when he is betrayed by a colleague and fired from his job, he finds himself alone in an unknown country where criminals like Andrzej can bring him under his thumb. In his second feature film, Juris Kursietis signs a naturalistic story about slavery that operates in the underworld of illegal labor mafias and the precarious situation of immigrants in Belgium.
Date and time: June 23 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Sanremo / Miroslav Mandic
Place: Slovenia, Italy. 2020
Synopsis: In the same nursing home, Bruno and Duša enjoy each other’s company. However, their moments together are soon forgotten as they both suffer from dementia. When Bruno is alone, his past comes to a head and he has to deal with fragmented memories of him. But when he is with Duša it is like enjoying a first date with the only shared memory of his youth: the song I’m not old by Gigliola Cinquetti, performed at the Sanremo Song Festival in the 1960s.
Date and time: June 24 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
The properties / A herdade /Tiago Guedes
Place: Portugal, France. 2019
Synopsis: The Properties is a saga about a family that owns one of the largest estates in Europe, on the southern bank of the Tagus River, which crosses much of the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout different historical moments, ranging from the 1940s and 1970s to the present, this film, originally conceived as a miniseries for television and selected by Portugal to compete in the 2020 Oscar award, immerses us in the secrets and the social life of the oligarchy of that country.
Date and time: June 25, 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
Óscar & Lili /Ein bisschen bleiben wir noch / Arash T. Riahi
Place: Austria. 2020
Synopsis: Eight-year-old Oskar and thirteen-year-old Lili are Chechen refugees who have lived in Austria for six years with Betty, their mother. When the family tries to be deported and Betty tries to commit suicide, their situation will change radically, since they will also have to face a separation. Based on a novel by Austrian writer Monika Helfer, Oscar & Lili tells the bittersweet story of an odyssey to survive in a world where love and hope support the weight of an adverse world.
Date and time: June 26 at 8:00 p.m. Free entry.
** With information from the Cineteca Nacional