JP\/09\/FABIO<\/p>\n
European Film Festival draws to a successful close<\/p>\n
EU film festival close to a successful<\/p>\n
Fabio Scarpello
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
After an 8-day cinematographic, feast the European Film Festival
\ndrew to a close on Dec. 17, and no sooner had the final applause
\nin the Goethe Haus and Erasmus Huis subsided than the time for a
\ncritical evaluation started.<\/p>\n
Based on the artistic value of the films and the attendance
\nregistered at the three venues, the organizers can rightly be
\nsatisfied, but small hiccups always happen and this festival was
\nnot an exception.<\/p>\n
However, a printing error in the pamphlet timetable (promptly
\namended) and problems with the English subtitles in a couple of
\nthe movies are minor blunders when set against the amount of work
\ninvolved in having 25 movies and short features shipped over from
\nEurope and shown twice in different venues on different dates.<\/p>\n
A short-lived disappointment was the absence of Respiro, the
\neagerly awaited film by Crialese, "due to the film's delayed
\ndeparture from Damascus where it closed another European Film
\nFestival" as stated by Prof Ostelio Remi, director of the Italian
\nCultural Center who -- to make it up to the audience and
\nsupported by his colleagues -- will show it on Jan. 5 at the
\nGoethe Haus and Jan. 8 at the Erasmus Huis.<\/p>\n
But Respiro substitutes Cento passi (Hundred steps) by Marco
\nTullio Giordana (Best European Film and Best Screenplay at the
\nBrussels International Film Festival 2001), which was shown at
\nthe Erasmus Huis, and La stanza del figlio (The son's room) by
\nNanni Moretti (winner of the Palm D'or at Cannes in 2001), which
\nwas shown at the Goethe Haus, turned out to be two memorable
\nmovies in their own right and appeased the audience.<\/p>\n
In the midst of a critical evaluation, the writer cannot claim
\nto be free of mistakes either: the protagonist of Il Mestiere
\ndelle armi is (of course) Giovanni De Medici and not Lorenzo as
\nwrongly reported and kindly pointed out by Mr. Francesco Alzeni.<\/p>\n
On a lighter note, on the whole the films lived up to
\nexpectations and proved that art and entertainment can go hand in
\nhand.<\/p>\n
Still, cinema remains a subjective medium open to various
\nreadings where no one can claim to hold the keys of absolute
\ntruth. But since I am paid for my opinion, among the last films
\nChopin-Desire for love and Samia walk away with the honors. I
\ncannot fail to mention the eight short films presented by
\nGermany, that with one each from Germany, Poland, Finland,
\nEngland, Holland, France and two from Austria, represent a
\nEuropean Festival of Short Movies within a European Film
\nFestival.<\/p>\n
Chopin-Desire for Love by Jerzy Antczak (Poland, winner of the
\nGold Award for Best Cinematography and the Platinum Award for
\nBest Drama at the Houston Film Festival 2003) is a film about
\nlove and misunderstandings, but is not only a love story.<\/p>\n
It tells of the eight-year-long love affair between Frederick
\nChopin and George Sage, and in the process it underlines the need
\nfor love of Sage's dysfunctional family.<\/p>\n
At the end no one feels really loved and no one is really
\nunderstood. Not Chopin, forced to leave Nohant, Sage's country
\nestate; nor Sage herself, who slowly withdraws, nor Sage's
\ndaughter and son Solange and Maurycy. Both feel neglected by
\ntheir mother and react differently: Solange grows to love Chopin
\nherself and enters into open competition with her mother, while
\nMaurycy channels his artistic frustrations in open hostility for
\nthe composer and his genius.<\/p>\n
Antczak spent 25 years writing the screenplay and six years
\nraising the budget. With all this work behind him, it is not
\ncoincidence that nothing is rushed in this 134 minute movie.
\nFrames are painstakingly created and juxtaposed to create a
\nvisual representation of the period and of the incomprehension of
\ntwo volatile lovers and their close associates. Fifty four pieces
\nof music by Chopin - personally selected by the director -
\ncomplement the story and dictate the moods of what is a truly
\nbeautiful composition.<\/p>\n
Samia by Philippe Faucon (France, winner of the Amiens
\nInternational Film Festival 2000), is neither a cinematographic
\nmasterpiece nor an untold story, but just a story told with a
\nrealism that involves the viewer. It is a neutral, passive
\nrepresentation of the world where there is minimal interference
\nby the director with the object-subject represented. The film's
\nfaithfulness to natural reality is the dominant aesthetic
\ncriterion, and it is in this authenticity that it has its
\nstrength and depth.<\/p>\n
Following Samia and her family, the director talks about
\nracism. Racism against this Algerian family in Marseille and the
\nracism within the family against the French.<\/p>\n
Still, it is all done (almost) in a documentary style, with a
\nhand-held camera, without close ups, without dramatizations and
\nwithout taking subjective positions. Faucon tells it the way it
\nis without offering a solution, and then he leaves it to the
\naudience to draw conclusions.<\/p>\n
The enigmatic end is the last and most important "touch" of
\nimpartiality. Will Samia return from Algeria? Will her mother
\nside with her against her abusive brother? Will everything just
\ncarry on the way it was?<\/p>\n
The cultural differences, the drama of being caught within "a
\nclash of civilizations", and the family conflict between an older
\nand a younger generation that cannot understand each other any
\nlonger are very effectively portrayed by a cast of non-
\nprofessional actors, themselves immigrants and (in the case of
\nthe brother) unemployed.<\/p>",
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