Titanic spotlight on European film

Having kicked off last Thursday, the15th edition of the Titanic Film Festival is in full swing in Budapest (until April 13) in four arthouse theatres, which are screening 65 features from all over the world. The burgeoning festival headed by György Horváth offers an enticing line-up.

There are eight competition titles vying for the Breaking Waves Award, which will be presented by a jury that includes Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó. Among the films are Let the Right One in by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson; Serge Bozon’s France; Just Another Love Story by Danish director Ole Bornedal; and Jar City by Iceland’s Baltasar Kormákur.

The section Elements of Crime includes Danish feature Go in Peace Jamil by Omar Shargawi (recent prize-winner at Rotterdam Festival); Boarding Gate by French director Olivier Assayas (who will attend the festival in Budapest); and A Man’s Job by Finland’s Aleksi Salmenperä.

In the Foam of the Days section, European production will be represented by Polish director Andrzej Jakimowski’s Tricks (Europa Cinemas Label Award at the 2007 Venice Film Festival – see news); The Art of Crying by Denmark’s Peter Schonau Fog and German features Breaking the Surface by Felicitas Korn and The Unpolished by Pia Marais.

Further European titles include multiple award-winning This Is England by UK director Shane Meadows and Under the Stars by Spain’s Félix Viscarret.

French cinema is the focus of a special programme entitled French Shoals, which will screen the titles crowned Best Film at the 2008 and 2007 Cesar Awards (Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain and Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley); Emmanuelle Cuau’s Very Well, Thank You, André Téchiné’s The Witnesses, Jacques Nolot’s Before I Forget and Delphine Kreuter’s 57,000 Kilometres Between Us.

Finally, the World Cinema section is screening Czech feature One Night in One City by Jan Balej.


by Fabien Lemercier