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FESTIVALS Russia

Westwind to fly the flag for European cinema in Russia

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- For its fifth edition, EFP’s showcase of European cinema in Russia is lining up film premieres in St. Petersburg

Westwind to fly the flag for European cinema in Russia
The Black Pin by Ivan Marinovic

Westwind, European Film Promotion’s special showcase to promote European films on the Russian market, is putting a spotlight on European Oscar submissions for Best Foreign Language Film to continue and intensify the cultural exchange with the Russian audience. The large interest in European films is reflected in sold out cinema screenings at the Angleterre Cinema Lounge – one of St. Petersburg’s few independent arthouse cinemas – and a great deal of attention has been generated for “The Westwind Collection” on Russia’s largest VoD platform ivi. Since the launch of the online festival on ivi in 2015, the viewership for European films has increased significantly thanks to EFP’s promotional activities.

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The five-day event, which is being held from April 19 – 23 and featuring seven award-winning European Oscar submissions and two premieres, will open with German box-office hit Welcome to Germany [+see also:
trailer
film profile
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by Simon Verhoeven. Among the Oscar submissions are four productions reflecting on the aftermath of war: Macedonian film The Liberation of Skopje [+see also:
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, by Rade Šerbedžija and Danilo Šerbedžija, Martin Pieter Zandvliet’s Danish-German co-production Land of Mine [+see also:
film review
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interview: Louis Hofmann
interview: Martin Zandvliet
film profile
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, British title Under the Shadow [+see also:
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by Iranian-born director Babak Anvari, and Portuguese film Letters from War [+see also:
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Q&A: Ivo M Ferreira
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, by Ivo Ferreira, starring Miguel Nunes who will attend the screening in St. Petersburg.

The Black Pin [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ivan Marinovic
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, Montenegro’s Oscar submission, will be presented by director Ivan Marinovic in person, and Icelandic title Sparrows [+see also:
film review
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interview: Atli Óskar Fjalarsson
interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
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by Rúnar Rúnarsson will bring actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (European Shooting Star 1999 from Iceland), to Westwind. Luxembourg is sending the documentary Voices of Chernobyl [+see also:
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, and rounding off the selection is the premiere of A Serious Game [+see also:
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interview: Karin Franz Körlof
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by Swedish director Pernilla August with Karin Franz Körlof in the lead – fresh from being honoured as one of 2017's ten European Shooting Stars, and also set to attend the festival.

Westwind is financially supported by the Creative Europe – Media Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.

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