Many people tend to think European films are usually made with grandiose artistic ambition and are almost undecipherable.
If that is your idea of European movies, you can get a fresh perspective at the 2005 European Film Festival, which is scheduled to screen 10 films from 10 European Union (EU) countries at the Majestic Theater
Despite Hollywood's dominance of the international movie industry, EU countries produced more than 800 movies last year.
PHOTO COURTESY OF 2005 EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL
EU policymakers understand the important role that cinema can play in promoting a country's image.
For that reason, EU countries spare little effort to support high-quality movie productions.
As well as viewing cinema as an important part of Europe's modern cultural heritage, the European public and filmmakers not only treat cinema as a business but also as a channel for artistic creation which allows freedom of expre-ssion and cultural diversity to flourish.
PHOTO COURTESY OF 2005 EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL
The festival's opening film Polleke is a good example of this approach to cinema. It recounts the tale of 11-year old girl Polleke's love for her neighbor, a Moroccan boy.
The boy's parents, however, forbid him from seeing Polleke because she comes from a different cultural background.
The story is simple yet involves many social issues such as racial conflict, drug addition and single parent families.
PHOTO COURTESY OF 2005 EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL
Recounting the story from the naive girl's point of view makes the otherwise heavy social problems appear lighter.
Coincidentally, adolescent girls are the focus of two other festival films, A Girl From Belgium and Getting My Brother Laid from Germany.
The former is about the bittersweet experience of growing-up, while the later celebrates sexual with humorous fantasy. Both films were made by young directors.
One Hundred Steps was made by a veteran Italian director, Marco Tullio Giodana, whose six-hour epic film The Best of Youth (
The narration in One Hundred Steps is much more concise and well focused than that of The Best of Youth.
Witness to the assassinations of his gangster grandfather and father, Peppino resolves to fight against his background, and what may become his destiny -- the Sicilian mafia.
He launches a radio station with his left-wing idealist friends and attacks the mafia's influence on politics in a local election, but in the end he is murdered.
The melodramatic plot is based on a true story of nostalgia and conflict.
The festival is notably devoid of films from France and Spain. The festival organizers say that this is due to lack of time and money, so they chose 10 films that best represent the ever-changing face of European cinema.
According to statistics from the Council of Europe's European Audiovisual Observatory, more than 10 million Europeans have seen films produced or co-produced in Taiwan in the past 10 years.
This statistic reveals European moviegoers' strong curiosity for foreign film which is vital for a prosperous cinema culture.
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