European Film Month Celebrates Diversity Across 70 Cities
The European Film Academy (EFA) is launching the second edition of its "European Film Month" initiative, celebrating the diversity of European cinema over a six-week period. This cinematic journey, starting on November 1, will culminate on December 9 during the European Film Awards ceremony in Berlin.
The extensive program will travel through over 40 countries, showcasing European films, hosting special events, and organizing retrospectives in partnership with a network of cinemas in 70 European cities. For the first time, the European Film Month includes partners from Albania, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey. Many countries have more than one partner cinema participating in the European Film Month, with up to four in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and even five in Poland and Switzerland.
In addition to this, the streaming platform Mubi will focus on European films, and the VoD portal DAFilms will present a selection of European documentary films.
"We see opportunities for cinemas outside of Europe to join the project. Why not host a European Film Month in cities like New York or Shanghai? There are audiences for European films there. Our long-term goal is to create a broader, more global event, culminating in the European Film Awards ceremony," said Matthijs Wouter Knol, the CEO of the European Film Academy.
A highlight of the European Film Month will be the "Cine Weekend for Young Audiences" on November 4-5. It will include the launch of the European Film Club, followed by the "Largest European Screening Party," featuring a dystopian road film and an environmental drama titled "Everything Will Change" by German director Martin Persiel.
Over the weekend, three films nominated for the annual Young Audience Award will also be announced.
On November 12, the European Day of Arthouse Cinema, a project organized by CICAE, the international confederation of arthouse cinemas, will take place as part of the European Film Month. A significant portion of the cinema community is composed of arthouse cinemas, which independently curate films that match the interests and tastes of their local audience. This year, Pathé Switzerland has joined the initiative, hosting the European Film Month in the Pathé Les Galleries cinemas in Lausanne. Additionally, several film festivals will be part of the program, including events in Tbilisi and Thessaloniki, as well as national film centres and film museums.
In related news, Kyiv, Ukraine, recently hosted the 52nd Molodist International Film Festival, running from October 21 to 29 and featuring around 150 outstanding films from around the world.