Festival du cinéma européen en Essonne

Here and there.

The title of Antonio Mendez Esparza’s film could be the watchword of this edition as this question goes through the overall length feature film competition. From European cinema, here – Germany, Norway, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary etc. to cinema, there: Turkey, Senegal, Mexico. How do the issues of territory and circulation question filmmakers?
Whatever the genres, styles – comedy, drama, documentary, poetry. But another issue is filling Europe. The financial and political crisis, which is already affecting cinema in Spain, Italy, Hungary, Greece. So, what is the use of having a festival if not to see, resist and think about tomorrow – here and there?
A festival is also suspended time, when different generations of filmmakers meet, share and pass on something indescribable, something about Cinema. This will be true for Pierre Etaix, Philippe Le Guay, Igor Minaev, François Pirot, Adriaan Lokman. This will also be true for the Polish and French filmmakers combined for the first time within Vents d’Est or Horizons 1 and 2. What about those ‘portraits of filmmakers’? All directed by young filmmakers entering into dialogue with key figures of French cinema – Jean-Pierre Melville, Bruno Dumont, André S. Labarthe et Jean-François Stévenin.
Supporting European Cinema will be the ambitious responsibility of the Festival’s Jury, over which Guillaume Nicloux presides and of the several Students’ Juries. A festival creates also the opportunity to take Cinema out of the screen and to find it in literature or rock music. Writer François Bégaudeau and rapper Hamé will be the narrators.

Pascal Platel

President of the festival

Eric Dalizon

Director