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European Arthouse Cinema Day sets 13 October 2019 date and lines up ambassadors
by Cineuropa
- Directors Céline Sciamma and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and actress Sandra Hüller, have been announced as the 2019 ambassadors
European Arthouse Cinema Day has confirmed that the event will be renewed for a fourth edition, and will maintain its October date and take place this year on 13 October 2019.
The event has announced its ambassadors for the 2019 edition: Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile], winner of the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes 2019); Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Young Ahmed [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile], winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes 2019); and German actress Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile], In the Aisles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Franz Rogowski
interview: Thomas Stuber
film profile]).
The ambassadors will each host events or promote the initiative through their networks and fanbases. Ambassadors for the event's three previous editions included Palme d'Or winners Ruben Ostlund and Laurent Cantet as well as Maren Ade, Christian Petzold, Michel Ocelot and Alice Rohrwacher.
Another special collaboration for this year has also been announced with the renowned animation filmmaker Milorad Krstić, who last year world-premiered his multi-award-winning fantasy opus animated film Ruben Brandt, Collector [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in Locarno’s Piazza Grande. The winner of a Silver Bear at Berlin in 1995 for his first short film, My Baby Left Me, Krstić has created the poster for the fourth edition of the European Arthouse Cinema Day.
Christian Bräuer, recently appointed new CICAE (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) president at the Cannes Film Festival in May, commented: “With European Arthouse Cinema Day, we are celebrating the diversity of European cinema and our arthouse theatres as community-based and mission-driven cultural venues. Cinemas are the heart chamber of films and give social relevance to the seventh art as a place for discourse. European Arthouse Cinema Day is also a clear commitment to European values, which include the freedom and independence of filmmaking.”
Over 650 cinemas in 39 countries participated in the third edition of European Arthouse Cinema Day in 2018, a marked increase from the initiative’s first two years. European Arthouse Cinema Day has also added new participating countries to each successive edition, including the USA, Colombia and Iran last year.
European Arthouse Cinema Day is the only international joint initiative undertaken by exhibitors to actively promote European films and the local cinema experience, in direct collaboration with distributors, producers, rights holders and filmmaking talent. The event is organised by the CICAE in partnership with Europa Cinemas.
The initiative gives participating cinemas, located both in and outside of Europe, the opportunity to actively highlight their identity and display a European focus in terms of their programming as well as in the areas of promotion and innovation, with the aim of increasing global audiences and circulation for European films.
The CICAE is the umbrella organisation gathering ten national arthouse cinema associations, including France's AFCAE, Germany's AG Kino and Italy's FICE, among others. The CICAE brings together over 4,000 screens via nine national and regional structures, independent cinemas in 41 other countries, 15 festivals, as well as a number of film distributors.
The CICAE will also maintain its usual strong presence at this year's Venice Film Festival, where it oversees an international training programme for professionals working in the arthouse exhibition industry. The ACAM (Art Cinema = Action + Management) programme brings together 30 trainers and 50 participants from around the world for an eight-day programme of lectures, workshops, case studies and screenings on San Servolo island.
The CICAE will also host a panel in cooperation with the Venice Production Bridge entitled "Towards an International Arthouse Strategy: Arthouse Cinemas and the Film Industry".
European Arthouse Cinema Day is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, Europa Cinemas, the FFA, the LUX Prize, the BKM (Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien) and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and benefits from partnerships with Eurimages, the European Film Academy, Cineuropa, Unifrance, EAVE and Titrafilm.
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