The XVII Festival of European Cinema in Colombia (EUROCINE 2011), a series of events over one month and four Colombian cities, will begin in Bogota on April 27.
The festival will then pass through Medellin and Cali, before ending up in Barranquilla on May 29, Colombian media reported.
EUROCINE, which features mainly independent film directors, was created in 1994 as an alternative space for exhibiting European films, and with the aim of serving as a point of encounter between the Colombian public and European culture.
Dayra Galvis, General Coordinator of EUROCINE, explained this to Colombia Reports, stating that the purpose of the festival is to “bring the Colombian public closer to the different cultural manifestations of the European countries, through film. At the same time, to widen the spectrum of cinema offered in the country… and to offer spectators other alternatives to common billboard cinema.”
Galvis said that the films displayed in the festival are broken into a number of categories. The “Official” section displays films of various genres that are being highlighted in the festival. Other sections include “In Focus,” “Art and Cinema,” “Tribute,” “Europe in shorts,” and “Eurocine community.”
The goal of the last section is to bring some of the festival’s films to members of the public who are unable to afford theater prices, through showings in city cultural centers.
This year’s “In Focus” section is dedicated to European animated films, highlighting fantasy productions of this genre, and presenting a representative sample of animated films from their beginnings until today.
The “Tribute” section will be dedicated to the late Spanish film director Luis Garcia Berlanga, whose films acted as social and political commentaries during the later years of the Francisco Franco regime.
Galvis emphasized that all of the films selected are noteworthy, but that in her opinion there are a few in particular to watch out for this year. These include: “Surviving life” (Czechoslovakia), “Du levande” (Sweden), “Hunger” (Ireland), “Revanche” (Austria), “Nothing personal” (Poland), “El mapa de los sonidos de Tokio” (Spain), “Nowhere boy” (England), “Metropia” (Sweden), “One night in one city” (Czechoslovakia), “Enter the void” (France), and “La fille du rer” (France).
Full program information for the festival will be available on the EUROCINE website from April 6.