07/10/2015 - The agency’s online European film festival in Russia will kick off on 21 October with screenings in Saint Petersburg

The third edition of the European film showcase sees Westwind launching in style in Saint Petersburg on 21 October. The programme of theatrical screenings will serve as the engine for European Film Promotion’s (EFP) first VoD festival on ivi, Russia's most popular online cinema.

Over the course of five days, EFP will present a wide range of European films with their directors, actors and screenwriters to Saint Petersburg’s local cinema audiences. With the change of location from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and the extension of the cinema screening programme to include an online festival of 26 European Oscar submissions, EFP is reacting to the present unstable situation for European films in the Russian distribution market. “EFP wants to continue the dialogue with Russian audiences”, says EFP managing director Renate Rose. “However, we have modified our concept to take account of the difficult situation faced by the theatrical distribution of European films in Russia. The two-track approach of an online programme of European films – in partnership with Russia's leading VoD platform ivi – and the presentation of European films in Saint Petersburg will make Westwind into a special endeavour for reaching out to a larger audience.”

The Westwind line-up includes Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile], Daniel Dencik’s Gold Coast [+see also:
trailer
interview: Daniel Dencik
film profile], Stefan Haupt’s The Circle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefan Haupt
film profile], Nikola Vukcevic’s The Kids from The Marx & Engels Street, David Trueba’s Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Sebastian Ko’s We Monsters, Pol Cruchten’s Never Die Young, Tom Collins’ The Gift [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Pirjo Honkasalo’s Concrete Night [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Westwind is financially supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations: Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Film Fund Luxembourg, German Films, ICAA (Spain), Irish Film Board, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro and Swiss Films.