In praise of Euro­pean cinema

The Euro­pean Film Acad­e­my is a body that pro­vides tools for the pro­mo­tion of and edu­ca­tion about Euro­pean film­mak­ing across 52 coun­tries through­out the con­ti­nent. Most may know the Acad­e­my for its annu­al award cer­e­mo­ny which cel­e­brates the cream of film­mak­ing in Europe, but the Acad­e­my is cur­rent­ly expand­ing its scope of work: the new ​“Month of Euro­pean Film” is part of a more expan­sive project to spread a pas­sion for Euro­pean film as far and wide as pos­si­ble. Here are just a few exam­ples of the vital work the Acad­e­my is doing…

This is the big one. A group of 40 pio­neer­ing Euro­pean film­mak­ers, spear­head­ed by the Swedish mae­stro Ing­mar Bergman, formed the Euro­pean Film Acad­e­my in 1988, at the first ever pre­sen­ta­tion of the Euro­pean Film Awards. Their objec­tive: bridg­ing the gap between cin­e­mat­ic artistry and the film indus­try by tak­ing a love for a wide range of Euro­pean cin­e­ma and open­ing it up to the pub­lic, while also mak­ing sure that Euro­pean films don’t dis­ap­pear in cinemas

Since this year, the Acad­e­my is hon­our­ing films and film­mak­ers via the Month of Euro­pean Film, which cul­mi­nates in the annu­al awards cer­e­mo­ny. After an entire­ly vir­tu­al affair in 2020 and a hybrid event in 2021, the 35^th Euro­pean Film Awards cer­e­mo­ny will take place as an in-per­son cel­e­bra­tion of film­mak­ing in Reyk­javík, Ice­land, with nom­i­nat­ed titles being announced on 8 Novem­ber 2022.

This year, Acad­e­my has part­nered with flag­ship cin­e­mas and venues across 35 coun­tries – from Ice­land to Greece, Por­tu­gal to Roma­nia, Latvia to the UK – to cel­e­brate an eclec­tic and diverse selec­tion of Euro­pean films through­out the Month of Euro­pean Film. Instead of pre­sent­ing a uni­form cat­a­logue across all regions, each par­tic­i­pat­ing venue has had the free­dom to explore and curate their own unique pro­gramme, com­bin­ing screen­ings, talks, sem­i­nars, work­shops and ded­i­cat­ed ret­ro­spec­tives. The cel­e­bra­tion runs between 13 Novem­ber and 10 Decem­ber, and details of all titles and venues can be found at mon​thofeu​ro​pean​film​.eu

The Academy’s pan-Euro­pean film her­itage net­work has been steadi­ly con­nect­ing film archives, cin­e­math­e­ques and insti­tu­tions across the con­ti­nent in order to increase pub­lic access to cul­tur­al­ly diverse film his­to­ries and make them wide­ly avail­able to new audi­ences. On the occa­sion of the 35^th Awards cer­e­mo­ny, 22 addi­tion­al her­itage loca­tions have been unveiled, bring­ing the total num­ber of Film Cul­ture Trea­sure loca­tions up to 35.

Sites such as the Parisian Café des Deux Moulins (AKA Amélie’s café), the mar­ble-paved street of Stradun in Dubrovnik and The Not­ting Hill Book­shop join an ever-grow­ing list of sym­bol­ic spaces includ­ing the Moulin d’Andé (a tem­ple of Nou­velle Vague artis­tic cre­ation), the Taber­nas Desert (home turf of the Spaghet­ti West­ern) and the infa­mous Odessa steps, where Sergei Eisenstein’s pio­neer­ing use of dialec­ti­cal mon­tage left its indeli­ble mark.

The great Pales­tin­ian auteur Elia Suleiman (Intro­duc­tion to the End of an Argu­ment, Divine Inter­ven­tion, It Must Be Heav­en) will be pre­sent­ed with the Euro­pean Achieve­ment in World Cin­e­ma Award for his out­stand­ing and sub­ver­sive and body of work. Suleiman – whose absur­dist sen­si­bil­i­ties draw fre­quent com­par­isons to Jacques Tati – has built a body of work that is dis­tinc­tive­ly and irrev­o­ca­bly charged with a Pales­tin­ian polit­i­cal fer­vour, and often dis­plays the com­plex­i­ties that lie at the inter­sec­tion of cul­tur­al pol­i­tics, aes­thet­ics and affect through the con­di­tion of Pales­tin­ian statelessness.

A Life­time Achieve­ment Award will be award­ed to the revered film­mak­er and cen­tral fig­ure of New Ger­man Cin­e­ma, Mar­garethe von Trot­ta (The Sec­ond Awak­en­ing of Christa Klages, Mar­i­anne and Julianne, Rosa Lux­em­burg). Fore­ground­ing female sub­jec­tiv­i­ties and a nuanced polit­i­cal agency, von Trotta’s work as a film­mak­er refracts his­to­ry through fic­tion, and is imbued with poet­i­cism, com­pas­sion, and inci­sive fem­i­nism. Ital­ian mas­ter Mar­co Bel­loc­chio will be hon­oured for his ground­break­ing work and receive the award for Inno­v­a­tive Sto­ry­telling, for his dra­ma series Exte­ri­or Night. These awards will be pre­sent­ed dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny and all awardees will be present.

To explore fur­ther, head to euro​pean​fil​macad​e​my​.org