Agan – Sista yang ciamik,
Catatan dari festival Director Europe On Screen 2013. Translatenya menyusul ya

The European Union consists of 27 member states and 6 candidate member states. Europe on Screen shows films from these countries. The Swiss traditionally participate and this year, for the first time, we show films from Norway.
In 2012 we showed 50 films. In the 2013 edition of the film festival we show 72 top films from 30 countries. And we will show the films in 6 cities outside Jakarta. We could grow considerably thanks to the generous contribution of the Dutch Embassy/Erasmushuis, the French Embassy/the Institut Francais and the German Embassy/the GoetheHaus.
In Europe we make as many films as in the United States. We make top entertainment films like James Bond or the Transporter series with Jason Statham but most people think these films are American films.
European films have an image of being ‘slow’ or ‘difficult’ or ‘artsy’. People think the films have ‘no ending’ or are ‘heavy’ or there is ‘lots of talking’. We hope Europe on Screen can change that image. Films from Europe are entertaining.

We divided the festival in 3 main sections and 3 side sections:
In the XTRA section we show 12 big films in our two biggest venues, the Erasmus Huis and The GoetheHaus.
With big films we mean entertaining box-office hits like “Come as you are”, “The Fourth State”, “What’s in a name?”, “Headhunters” or “Easy Money”, but big can also mean top quality films like the Cannes 2011 contender “We have a Pope” of Nanni Moretti or the 2010 Cannes competition film “Route Irish” of Ken Loach or “Jackie” with Holly Hunter.




In the DISCOVERY section we show equally good films (19) but from lesser know directors and/or with lesser known actors.
This section means discovering a touching comedy like “Balls”. There are Oscar entrees of many countries like “Bibliotheque Pascal”. There are intriguing films like “Crossing Boundaries” which was shown in the Rotterdam Film Festival, “Chico & Rita”, a Spanish animation film that was nominated for best animation film at the Oscars 2012. There is “In the Fog”, which was in competition in Cannes 2012. There is “Sister”, which won the Silver Bear in Berlin 2012. There is “The Mill and The Cross”, which was in Sundance Film Festival, “The Strange Case of Angelica” from the old master Manoel de Oliveira and one of the best films of the festival “The Parade”, which was the Audience Award Winner in the Panorama section of Berlin 2012.



In the DOCU section we show top quality documentaries. We are documentary lovers and are proud to present 18 completely different documentaries.
“Anton Corbijn” follows the famous photographer who did the covers of U2 and many other pop groups. “Diane Vreeland” is portrait of the famous fashion designer. “Duch” is about a former commander of the Khmer Rouge. We have a film about the music group Sigur Ros, “Inni”, a touching portrait about Jane Goodall and her work with chimpansees. We have “Nicky’s Family” about a man who saved hundreds of children out of the hands of the Nazis. A fascinating 3 hours documentary about the former Romanian dictator Ceaucescu, a film about the Finnish soccer legend Jari Litmanen and one of the best documentaries is “The Other Dream team” about the 1992 Lithuanian basket ball team that beat the hated but powerful Russian team.



For the first time we introduce 3 new sections:
A Children section, the Retro films and the Open Air Screenings.
In the children section we show 4 animation films: “Animals United”, “Sammy’s Great Escape”, “The Great Bear” and “Zarafa”.
All screenings are on the Saturdays and the Sundays in Erasmushuis and GoetheHaus.



Then for the first time we have two retrospective programs, one on Fritz Lang with the films “Metropolis”, “M”, “Fury” and “You Only Live Once”. And one program on Henri-Georges Clouzot with “The Wages of Fear” which won the Golden palm in Cannes 1953, “Diabolique”, “The mystery of Picasso”, a fascinating documentary about Picasso which won the Golden Palm in Cannes 1956 and a documentary about the director who died during the shooting of his last film “Inferno” with Romy Schneider.



Also we have a Focus on the Dutch sound-designer Peter Warnier. He will be attending the film festival and he will give a masterclass sound design for the students of the SAE filmschool and for students of other filmschools. He will discuss 4 films that he worked on. “Character” which won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1998, “Love is All”, a box office hit in 2007, the documentary “The Van Waveren Tapes” and “The Resurrection of a Bastard”, which was the opening film of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2013.

For the first time we have Open Air screenings in Tugu Kunstkring Paleis (the former Buddha Bar) and the Erasmushuis. These are popular films. Most of them have already been shown in the cinemas, like “22 Bullets”, “Blitz”, “Paris Express”, “Adele Blanc-Sec”, “Niko”, added with big films like “Blind Spot” and “The Storm”.



And we organized the short film competition. We had 208 entrees, documentaries and fiction films. We will publish the finalists this week. The 2 winners will be announced at the closing night and each winner will get a SONY Full HD Camcorder.
And the SAE filmschool gave a generous prize. They will choose one talented filmmaker to receive a 3 year full scholarship for their Digital Filmmaking program

Don’t forget to come to the Closing Film in the Erasmushuis. It’s the Norwegian thriller “Headhunters”. There will be snacks and drinks served before the film screening.

We will have a famous guest during the festival, Jari Litmanen. He played for Ajax and Barcelona. He will be attending the film screening “The King – Jari Litmanen” on Sunday 14.30 in the GoetheHaus. Please come and ask him questions.

Thank you for attending the press-conference.
Kind regards,
Orlow Seunke.