European Union

During a press conference on 16November,the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst, presented the 18^th European Film Festival, which will be held from 24 November to 4 December in the two theaters of Cinema Metropolis Empire Sofil (Ashrafieh).

The European Film Festival will open on Thursday 24November with the Polish film The Winner by Wiesław Saniewski (on invitation).

The Festival's programme includes:

• 33 recent feature films from the European Union, allowing the audience to view prize-winning films screened at major international festivals as well as the first or second production of promising directors.  
• 1 recent Lebanese feature film from the Lebanese director Rania Attieh (Black Pearl Award, 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival) will be presented as the Festival's closing film.
• 1 feature film from Switzerland and from Norway respectively, the Festival's guest countries this year. 
• 20 short films produced by students of ten Lebanese audiovisual schools.

In order to encourage young talents, the Festival will, for the eleventh consecutive year, award three prizes for the Lebanese short films. The Festival will offer each of the winners the opportunity to attend one of three leading international short film festivals in Europe: the “Premiers plans” Angers Festival (France), the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (Germany) and the Krakow Film Festival (Poland). The jury includes cultural attachés of EU Member States' Embassies and cultural centres in Lebanon as well as Lebanese cinema critics. On Sunday 4 December, the Head of the Delegation of the European Union, Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst, will award the prizes.

In a continuous effort to promote and showcase European culture to the widest possible audience throughout the country, the European Film Festival will also take place in Tripoli (1-4 December), Jounieh (2-8 December), Saida (8-10 December) and Zahle (13-17 December) with a number of films being screened in the four cities.

Several special guests will introduce and discuss their films in the cinema: Mr. Wieslaw Saniewski and Mrs Grazyna Molska, respectively director and producer of the opening Polish  film The Winner, Mr. Anders F. August, scriptwriter of the Danish film Applause, Mr. Ludovic Bource, composer of the original soundtrack of the French silent film The Artist, Mr. Alexandru Maftei, director of the Romanian film Hello, How Are You?, as well as Mrs Rania Attieh and Mr. Daniel Garcia, directors of the Lebanese film OK, Enough, Goodbye. Other guests may also confirm their presence later. The guests will hold workshops with Lebanese audiovisual schools' students.

As a special event, the Festival will be screening the German silent film Nosferatu. The film was shot in 1921 and released in 1922, and is considered to be a masterpiece of Germany’s expressionistic cinema. The screening of the film will be accompanied with live music performed by the group More Dust Under The Carpet.

On Sunday 4 December, the Festival will pay a tribute to the late famous Lebanese actor Mahmoud Mabsout, known as Fahmen. Extracts of some of his films will be screened, followed by the short film in which Fahmen played a leading role, Beyrouth après rasage (After Shave) of the Lebanese director Hany Tamba (César for the Best short film in 2006).

Among the long feature films, the European Film Festival proposes two films for children. The European Film Festival also makes the screenings available to children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The European Film Festival is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon in collaboration with the Embassies and Cultural Institutes of the European Union Member States, under the patronage of H.E. the Minister of Culture and with the contribution of LBCI TV.

Tickets will be on sale for 4,000 LL (2,000 for students’ short films) from Monday 21^st November 2011 at Cinema Metropolis Empire Sofil (Ashrafieh).

The programme is available at the website of the Delegation of the European Union: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/lebanon