• To host art & culture maestros from Europe and India including directors, actors, film critics, such as Aseem Chhabra, Laurent Micheli, Ritu Sarin, Monica Wahi,  among others 
• Discussion include: re-inventing film festivals in Covid times; Green shooting; Role of Film education in growing up; navigating the ethically ambiguous and cinematically complex challenges of entering into the deeply personal and intimate domains of their subjects’ loves and families 
• 7-event line-up of fireside chats, panels and one-on-one discussions to be hosted online

Mumbai, 15 November, 2021 (GPN): In addition to an eclectic line-up of 60 films in 37 languages, the 26^th edition of the European Union Film Festival (EUFF) will also be hosting seven specially curated online side events, keeping with the festival’s ethos of popularizing the craft of cinema, while furthering film education. These events have been curated to also further the Europe-India exchange on Cinema.  

The month-long festival got underway on November 1^st in digital mode, its second year in virtual avatar due to covid social distancing norms. It is organized by the Delegation of the European Union to India with the Member States and Partner Countries, to strengthen EU-India cultural and people-to-people ties through cinema, by presenting critically acclaimed films from the continent, spanning multiple genres and languages.

The special events will bring together over a dozen unique speakers from Europe and India, through sessions focused on the different facets of filmmaking including direction, production, scriptwriting, acting while discussing important issues such as eco-friendly production of movies, film education,evolving face of Cinema in times of Covid .

Special events 

The special events kick off from November 15^th with the session ‘Love, family and the filmmaker’s gaze’ moderated by well-known film critic Namrata Joshi, which is aimed at helping documentary filmmakers navigate the ethically ambiguous and cinematically complex challenges of entering into the deeply personal and intimate domains of their subjects’ loves and families. The session features noted filmmakers like Archana Phadke, Priya Sen, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.

In a fire-side chat, Belgian director Laurent Micheli will speak about his pathbreaking film ‘Lola’, which focuses on the challenges of an 18-year-old transgender who is dealing with the death of her mother and is coming to terms with her estranged father; while we go deeper with Laura Samani on her first film ‘Small Body’ whch won the Audience Award at the Annecy Film Festival and is being screened as part of the EUFF.

Since the first years of its birth, cinema has codified the basic forms and techniques of the “moving image” language that today permeates our daily existence in all its aspects. ‘Growing up with Cinema’ will highlight the importance of cinema in our lives through an interesting dialogue with experts in film education like film programmer Nathalie Bourgeois, academician Núria Aidelman Feldman, and Monica Wahi, a children’s films expert. This will be moderated by coordinator of the international festival Il Cinema Ritrovato Guy Borlée.

Renowned journalist and writer Birgit Heidsiek will bring to the table the best eco-practices in filmmaking as a moderator in her session ‘Green Shooting. A best practice for ecological cinema’ with Alberto Battocchi who is a part of GREEN FILM, an initiative launched by Trentino Film Commission for fostering environmental sustainability in audiovisual productions and director and producer Lars Jessen. The session will put the spotlight on the eco-friendly production of cinema, given the high cost of film production, both from an economic and ecological viewpoint.

The EUFF curators will come together to moderate a session on the advantages of co-production in Europe through a session ‘Cinema Together: Co-production in and out of Europe’. The session will feature Delphine Jaquet, co-founder of Banshee Films, a French production company that defends original styles in filmmaking and will focus on the increasingly expanding dimension of co-production in European countries.

Indian-origin filmmaker Aseem Chhabra will moderate a session on ‘The relevance of film festivals in a hyper-digital word’. The session will focus on the challenges before film festivals, especially smaller ones, and explore means through which they can reinvent themselves and remain relevant to their communities in this new world of unlimited digital access and choice.  

Events Line-up:  

Day & Date	Time	Title	Speakers	Zoom Link
Mon, 15th Nov	18:00 IST// CET 13:30	Love, family and The filmmaker’s  Gaze  (In collaboration with Dharamshala International Film Festival)	Moderator:   Namrata Joshi     Panelists:  Priya Sen; Archana Phadke; Ritu Sarin;	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Wed, 17th Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	Talk with Laurent Micheli (Talk on the film Lola vers la mer (Lola) Belgium,	Moderators:   Veronica Flora, Valerio Caruso  Panelists:   Laurent Micheli	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Thu 18th Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	Talk with Laura  Samani  Talk on the film Piccolo Corpo (Small body)	Moderators:   Veronica Flora and Valerio Caruso  Panelists:   Laura Samani  Dario Cecchi	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Fri, 19th Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	Film education:  growing  up with  cinema	Moderator  Guy Borlée  Panelists: Nathalie Bourgeois; Núria Aidelman Feldman; Monica Wahi	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Wed, 24th Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	Green shooting. A best practice for ecological cinema	Moderators: Birgit Heidsiek  Panelists:   Birgit Heidsiek; Alberto Battocchi; Lars Jessen	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Fri, 26th Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	The relevance Of film festivals in a hyper-digital world (In collaboration with Dharamshala International Film Festival )	Moderators:  Aseem Chhabra  Panelists:  Aseem Chhabra; Deepthi Pendurty; Christina Marouda; Meenakshi Shedde	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA
Tue, 30 Nov	18:00 IST // CET 13:30	Cinema together:  co-production  in and out of  Europe	Moderators:  Veronica Flora and Valerio Caruso  Panelists: Delphine Jaquet	https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MLtRna0RQiCx8n6DNG5uiA

 

About the European Union Film Festival:  

The 26th edition of the EU Film Festival 2021 will run through November’21. This time the festival is bigger, with a line-up of 60 films in 37 languages from across 27 member states and Switzerland.  There are Eight sections in total, reflecting the diversity of European and Indian Cinema: Contemporary European Cinema, European Masterpieces, Co-productions, a short film selection, films on climate change, Film Education, Contemporary Indian Cinema and Indian masterpieces. This year the Festival also pays a tribute to legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, on his 100th birth anniversary with the projection of the seminal Pather Panchali. https://euffindia.com/special-events/  

About the EU and EU-India Ties 

The EU, which consists of 27 countries, has the world’s second largest economy and its third largest population, after China and India. Though richly diverse, the countries that make up the EU (its ‘Member States’) are all committed to the same basic values: peace, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. By creating a frontier-free single market and a single currency (the euro) which has been adopted by 19 Member States, the EU has given a significant boost to trade and employment.  

EU-India relations: For over 55 years, the EU and India have worked together to reduce poverty, prevent disasters, expand trade, secure global public goods, enhance security around the world and promote joint research in energy, health, agriculture and many other fields of mutual interest. More information at: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/india