Ravenna offers “mosaic” of European films

by c.d.m.

19/04/2010 - The town of Ravenna is kicking off the fourth edition of Mosaic of Europe Film Fest (MEFF, running through April 24).

The Festival, organised by the Film Office of the City of Ravenna with FICE (Italian Federation of Arthouse Cinemas) and CICAE (International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas) is an important showcase for the best of European film.

MEFF 2010 offers a series of interesting events, including screenings of the latest masterpieces by three undisputed masters of world cinema: the melancholic autobiographical documentary The Beaches of Agnès [trailer] by Agnès Varda; Werner Herzog’s horror-tinged metaphysical noir My Son, My Son What have Ye Done; and Bellamy [trailer], Claude Chabrol’s sad and violent tribute to Simenon, featuring a masterful performance by Gerard Depardieu in their first film together.

The festival’s central section is the International Feature Competition, 10 films not yet distributed in Italy that have, however, won awards at top international festivals. They include Andrea Arnold’s British drama Fish Tank [trailer, film focus], starring Michael Fassbender; The Other Bank [trailer], the feature debut of Georgian director George Ovashvili; and Martìn Provost’s biopic Séraphine [trailer], on the life of French painter Sèraphine de Senlis.

As well as Cannes 2009 winners The Misfortunates [trailer, film focus] by Belgium’s Felix van Groening and the disturbing Greek thriller Dogtooth [trailer, film focus] by Yorgos Lanthimos; Mahmut Fazil Coskun’s complicated love story Wrong Rosary (Turkey); 2010 Oscar candidate In the Loop [trailer] by TV star Armando Iannucci, the undisputed king of English political satire; Thomas [trailer], by Finland’s Miika Soini; Martin Koolhoven’s Winter in Wartime [trailer] (Netherlands), a heartbreaking coming-of-age tale; and German title Everyone Else [trailer, film focus], about the unhappy relationship of a young couple vacationing in Sardinia.

The international jury comprises director-screenwriter Svetlana Proskurina; Anna Maria Percavassi, artistic director of the Trieste Film Festival; director-producer Sean Hogan; writer-film critic Paolo Vecchi; and journalist and founder of the GialloLuna NeroNotte Literary Festival, Nevio Galeati.

Special events include discussions with Proskurina and young Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn.

(Translated from Italian)