18/11/2010

A driving force for the circulation of quality European films, the Europa Cinemas network (1,005 theatres for 2,778 screens in 566 cities in 68 countries), headed by managing director Claude-Eric Poiroux and president Claude Miller, today opens its 15th annual conference in Paris. Running until Sunday, the event will bring together over 700 European professionals (exhibitors, distributors, producers and exporters).

Before the debates get underway, this Thursday the event will screen 12 European features, including this year’s four winners of the Europa Cinemas Label at Cannes, Berlin, Karlovy Vary and Venice: Michelangelo Frammartino’s The Four Times [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michelangelo Frammartino
interview: Savina Neirotti
film profile] (Italy), Feo Aladag’s When We Leave [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Feo Aladag
interview: Feo Aladag
film profile] (Germany, European Parliament LUX Prize 2010 competition), Rajko Grlic’s Just Between Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Croatia) and The Clink of Ice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (France) by Bertrand Blier.

The following films will also be presented: Venice prize-winners Essential Killing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile] (Poland) by Jerzy Skolimowski and Attenberg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile] (Greece) by Athina Rachel Tsangari; Romanian director Florin Serban’s Berlinale winnerIf I Want to Whistle, I Whistle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ada Condeescu
film profile]; Oxygen [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Belgium’s Hans Van Nuffel; Mark Romanek’s UK/US co-production Never Let Me Go [+see also:
trailer
interview: Domhnall Gleeson
film profile]; No Fear [+see also:
trailer
Interview 1 Fabio Volo [IT]
Interview 1 Javier Zanetti [IT]
Interview 1 Paolo Rossi [IT]
Interview 2 Fabio Volo [IT]
Interview 2 Javier Zanetti [IT]
Interview 2 Paolo Rossi [IT]
Interview Luciano Ligabue [IT]
Interview Stefano Rodota [IT]
film profile] (Italy) by Piergiorgio Gay; Circus Columbia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danis Tanovic
film profile] (Bosnia) by Danis Tanovic; and Black Bread [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Spain’s Agustí Villaronga.

The conference will be officially opened on Friday by French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand alongside Aviva Silver (Head of Unit for the MEDIA Programme). It will host workshops ("How can movie theatres attract the Internet generation?", "Towards a digital roll-out in the European independent sector"); case studies centred on the theme "attracting new audiences to movie theatres in the multimedia era"; and a discussion about Europa Cinemas’s prospects and deadlines for 2011.

Among the many speakers are Peter Dinges (German Federal Film Board), Olivier Wotling [National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC)], Harri Ahokas (Finnish Film Foundation), Peter Buckingham (UK Film Council) and representatives from Lucky Red, Haut et Court, Curzon Artificial Eye, Neue Visionen, Imagine Films, Agora Films, Polyfilm Verleih, New Horizons Association, Arts Alliance Media and Ymagis.

Finally, on Friday evening Le Balzac cinema will hold an awards ceremony at which Julie Gayet will present the Europa Cinemas prizes; Wim Wenders will show the first images from his 3D feature Pina; and Thierry Frémaux, delegate general of the Cannes Film Festival, will host the Lumière Evening: Anthology of Films by the Lumière Brothers.

(Translated from French)