· PDF file2 Contents Introduction 3 I. European Politics and Policies 4 All Change Please 5 April Chill 5 Fair Trading 6

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ContentsIntroduction 3I.EuropeanPoliticsandPolicies 4AllChangePlease 5AprilChill 5FairTrading 6HanoiWarsaw 6Impasse 7Estherazy 7NoWayThrough 8DestinationFinale 8

II.LivinginEurope 9Bibendum 9Amerika 10Fanatic 10Ecologia 11EnemyWithin 11LittleMissEyeflap 12

Partners 13

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A Europe without borders is an opportunity for exchange, inspiration, and learning but also a challenge to preconceptions and cultural identities. To explore the European character we called for a story teller, a film maker. My Europe 2010 describes experiences and confronts its public with a collection of cinematic journeys through time and cultures.

My Europe is presented in two categories. “Living in Europe” recounts the bringing together of characters, traditions, and expectations. “Politics and policies” looks at borders, conflicts and diplomacy.

We wish to express our gratitude and thanks to our screening partners for bringing the festival to audiences all over Europe, and to the participating cinemas who share our belief in and support of independent film. This year, in addition to partners such as Berlin, Bucharest, and Bad Endorf, we are pleased to welcome newcomers like Malta, Krakow and Milan.

We hope you all find and enjoy the excitement of the journey we propose with this edition of the festival.

The festival team

Introduction

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EuropeanPoliticsandPoliciesI

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The films of this section traditionally address pertinent issues facing all people residing in Europe, on a political and societal level in their own unique way. As in last year’s program, the concept of borders, both politically real and culturally prevalent, play a major role in the issues addressed by the filmmakers. The plight of refugees in Europe surfaces in several films and the stark realities of borders become harrowingly apparent. Political circumstances surrounding the ground-breaking year of 1989 and their perception from different cultures constitute another focal point. A historical theme runs throughout this year’s Politics and Policies section, giving the program a factual note, while interestingly enough, not relying on documentaries in the classical sense. The stories told reflect Europe present and past, as seen and experienced by Europeans, as well as people from abroad. The first film tackling the situation of refugees is the German film „All Change Please“, which despite its humorous note addresses a serious problem facing people illegally crossing European borders, as well as an inner conflict a grumpy German trucker is faced with. The film is an ode to humanity and overcoming borders real and within oneself. „Hanoi Warsaw“ is a gripping Polish drama of a young Vietnamese girl searching for her boyfriend in Poland, who has somehow managed to stay in the country and even find work there. Her journey as an illegal immigrant is a struggle for survival and retaining human dignity, despite extremely adverse conditions. „No way through“ by the British directors Sheila Menon and Alexandra Monro also addresses the topic of borders in a unique way, by bringing the problem right into the heart of a European metropolis.

A young girl on a bike is hit by a car and the driver does all he can to bring her to a hospital, but is constantly stopped by military guards and we don’t quite understand why in the begin-ning of the movie. A film with a powerful mes-sage about borders and how overcoming them is essential for humanity and co-existence. The movie „Impasse“ by the Dutch director Bram Shouw shows us a scene from local train ser-vice that could play out anywhere in Europe. A young man with a bald shaven head, presum-ably of Neo-Nazi persuasion, sits right across a young African girl and is apparently interested in her acquaintance. But will he make the first move and will she accept? A film boldly dis-playing cultural and political borders still exist-ing in Europe’s multi-ethnic population today. The stopmotion-animation „Esterhazy“ is a hu-morous and intriguing look into the city of Ber-lin around the Fall of the Wall, as seen through the eyes of an aristocratic bunny from Vienna, who settles in the city in the hopes of finding the right female bunny. This historical look shot with amazing stop-motion technology accurate-ly gives the audience the feel of Berlin in 1989 and also tells an enjoyable story, sure to give viewers an amusing and intriguing look into one of Europe’s largest cities during one of its most turbulent times. The Georgian movie „April Chill“ astoundingly recreates a real incident which oc-curred in Georgia in 1989, involving Soviet mili-tary servicemen and a young boy dancing and proudly living his culture even under foreign military presence. An anti-violence film about the awakening of human instinct in an invader. The German film „Destination Finale“ is an ex-traordinary movie about a man, presumably of Vietnamese origin, who travels throughout Eu-rope and experiences peculiar changes after the journey begins. A unique historical look through the eyes of a man from abroad, which helps construct our view of Europe in the present day. „Fair Trading“ by the Belgian director Joevi Christian is an entertaining animation telling the story of a coffee bean; from cropping to delivery.

Tornike Bziava is a Georgian director and actor born in 1980. Noticed by Georgian film directors for his acting skills, he was offered some leading roles in several Georgian features. In 2009 he had a small part in the American film “Georgia”

starring Val Kilmer and Andy Garcia. The same year he directed his first short film, “April Chill” , which received an International Jury Special Mention at the 2010 Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival.

Lena Liberta was born in 1981 in Erfurt, Germany. She started to make videoart and short movies in 1999. She worked as an assistant director for theatre, as a TV journalist and as a presenter and stud-ied Visual Communi-

cation at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Since 2008, she studies movie direction at the Hambourg Media School.

AllChangePlease(Uwe+Uwe)Germany 2009Running Time: 12 min.Director and Script: Lena LibertaCinematography: Miriam KolesnykEditing: Anne BeutelSound: Rolf ManzeiMusic: Jonas GervinkCast: Samuel Weiss, David Wurawa, Lydia TuffourProduction: Hamburg Media School, Filmwerkstatt, Stefan GierenContact: [email protected]

AprilChill(Aprilis Sushki)Georgia 2010Running Time: 15 min.Director and Script: Tornike BziavaDirector of Photography : Goga DevdarianiEditing: Alexander Kuranov, Tornike BziavaSound: Alexander KuranovMusic: Tamara JordaniaCast: Malkhaz Jorbenadze, Mirian Garuchava, Rezo Chanishvili, Levan Netsubidze, David Iashvili, Tamara Bziava, Imeda ArabuliContact: [email protected]

The story of a Soviet military serviceman and a young Georgian dancer. An anti-violence film about the awakening of human instinct in an invader.

Grumpy German trucker Uwe happens to find a family of refugees in the back of his truck. His attempts to get rid of them fail. Uwe is destined to rediscover his own humanity – not to his own liking.

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FairTrading(Fair Trading)Belgium 2009Running Time: 1 min. Director and Script: Joeri Christiaen Sound: Temple of TuneMusic: Frederik SegersContact: [email protected]

“Fair Trading” is a one-minute 3D animated film that follows the journey of a coffee bean, from cropping to delivery, by a small producer. The film deals with the serious subject of Fair Trade through a different, comedy angle.

HanoiWarsaw(Hanoi-Warszawa)Poland 2009Running Time: 30 min.Director and Script: Katarzyna Klimkiewicz Camera: Andrzej WojciechowskiEditing: Andrzej DabrowskiMusic: Marzena MajcherCast: Thu Ha Mai, Le Thanh Hunh, Michal Podsiadlo, Klaudia Barcik, Przemek Modliszewski, Viet Dung, Lukasz Pruchniewicz, Tran Thi Thanh Minh, Irwin WojciechowskiContact: [email protected]

Smuggled across borders, cheated by immoral intermediaries, trailed by police, at the mercy of foreigners – such is the fate of illegal immigrants from Vietnam who try to settle in Poland. Among them is young Mai Anh, whose boyfriend now works at a bazaar in Warsaw. Their meeting in a foreign country will not transpire as they had imagined. This film debut leaves no doubts as to the fate of refugees: in their new lives in the ‘promised land’ they are constantly hounded and frequently need to deny their identity.

Katarzyna Klimkiewicz was born in 1977. She graduated form the Directing Department of the Polish National School of Film, Television and Theater in Lodz. Her documentary „Wasserschlacht - The great Border Battle“, produced with

Adrew Firedman, received the Berlin Today Award at the 2007 Berlinale. Her documentary works include „Krystian Lupa s Labyrinth“(2003) and „Nothing to lose“ (2009).

After 3 years of traditional animation studies at the Royal Academy in Ghent, Belgium, Joeri Christiaen started a company called Smokescreen in 2000 with 5 classmates, to develop a TV series. With that same group, he then worked as leading animator on the feature film “Les Triplettes de Belville”. After 4 years of freelance work, Joeri joined Grid VFX – initially as leading animator.

In 2007 he launched a new entity called Tinkertree – to develop animation content and created an online mini-series.

In 2008, Joeri also created independent animation label Thuristar, under which he is developing, producing and directing short films.

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Impasse(Impasse)Netherlands 2008Running Time: 5 min. Director: Bram ShouwScript: Bram Shouw, Jasper WolfCamera: Jasper WolfEditing: Brian EntSound: Feike De WitCast: Mutaleni Nadimi, Sieger SlootContact: [email protected]

As a train rumbles trough the darkness, an African girl enters the wagon. A young man with a bald shaved head is staring out the window when she puts her luggage in the rack above his head. Except for him and the girl, everybody is asleep. He looks at her. When she looks back he turns his head away. His heart is bouncing so loud he can almost hear it. Love is blind, isn’t it?

Estherhazy(Eszterhazy)Poland 2009Running Time: 25 min.Director: Izabela PlucinskaScript: Izabela Plucinska, Anna JadowskaCamera: Izabela PlucinskaEditing: Dirk SchreierMusic: Max KnothContact: [email protected]

The hero is a young, purblind and sawn-off bunny Esterhazy from the Esterhazy-Dynasty in Vienna. He is sent to Berlin by the Patriarch Count Esterhazy, to find a huge, healthy and beefy bunny woman nearby some mysterious Berlin Wall. After a long, extensive search he finds his paradise (bunnies’ paradise that existed in the reality in between the East and West part of the famous Berlin Wall). Esterhazy will move there with the love of his life: Mimi, but as it is 1989, the Berlin Wall comes down…

Izabela Plucinska was born in 1974 in Koszalin, Poland. She studied animation at the Polish National School of Film, Television

and Theater in Lodz, graphics and design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz and at the Film & Television Academy “HFF Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam. Among her many clay animations, the most successful was ”Jam Session” (2005).

Bram Schouw (born 1979 in The Hague, The Netherlands) graduated at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, Audio Visual Media in 2005. His graduation film “Marriage” was the official opening film for the film festival Curta

Cinema Rio de Janeiro. In 2007 he co-directed the play “Backspace” for the festival Cinema et Justice, organized by the French Embassy and Amnesty International. His second short film “Impasse” was selected by the United Nations and “Art For The World for Stories on Human Rights”. At this moment Bram Schouw works as commercial director at Hazazah Film in Amsterdam.

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(No Way Through)United Kingdom 2009Running Time: 7 min.Directors and Script : Alexandra Monro, Sheila MenonCamera: Dave TreeEditing: Graham TaylorSound: Jules McDonaldMusic: James Edward BarkerCast: Times Plester, Amy LoughtonContact: [email protected]

Nowaythrough

Imagine if London was controlled by the military and you had to go trough specific checkpoints to go to school, go to work, visit your friends or go to the hospital. “No way through” brings the shocking realty of the Palestinian life in the West Bank uncomfortably close to home.

Alexandra Monro is French and moved to the UK after a Master in Marketing in Bordeaux. She won a photography competition in 2001 that opened her eyes to creative horizons. She now runs Azimuth Pictures and spent 5 years as a freelancer in feature films. She is currently working on a documentary in Portugal. Sheila Menon worked in production for 5 years and since then work as a Digital Project Manager for leading cross platform production company: Somethin’ Else. She produces music-based video content for multi-media platforms. She freelances since 2007 hoping to mark with film focused around human right issues.

DestinationFinale(Destination Finale)Germany 2008Running Time: 9 min.Director, Editing and Sound: Philip WidmannProducer: Gerd Roscher for HfbK Hamburg, Philip Widmann for Works CitedContact: [email protected]

A man, presumably of Vietnamese origin, travels Europe. Shortly after the journey begins, everything changes. A found-footage masterpiece.

Philip Widmann graduated in Cultural Anthropology and Visual Communications and works with film and video. Together with Karsten Krause he founded

the audiovisual production cooperative Works Cited in 2008 and since 2009 is a member of the artist-run film lab LaborBerlin. Philip lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg.

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Bibendum(Bibendum)Estonia 2009Running Time: 16 min.Director and scriptwriter: Augustas LiivDirector of Photograhy: Ants-Martin VahurEditing: Gaz EvansSound: Arian LevinCostumes: Anna-Liisa Liiver, Irina RiismaCast: David Bowles, Jekaterina Novosjolova, Aleksandr Okunev, Andrei AnatolevitsProducer: Riin UrbanikContact: [email protected]

Macky is an English career truck driver on his trip to Russia who gets caught up in the middle of criminal activities after his Michelin Man gets stolen from the top of his cab. But his strong belief in his buddy Bibendum pulls him through the adventure unscratched.

Augustas Liiv was born in 1982. He is studying filmmaking at London Film School. In the past he has directed, shot and edited short student films such as “Bird’s Karma” (2006, fiction), “Who Are We?” (2007, documentary) and ”Killer Driller” (2007).

Maybe there is no European way of life. No feeling all European Citizens have in common. Spain, Germany, Norway, UK or Russia seem to be quite different places. “Living in Europe” films 2010 seem to tell stories of movement and travel. But in reality they tell stories of feeling strange in places that should be home. A feeling that can have many origins and reasons. Like the young girl Masha in “Ecologia”, coming back to her home town from abroad and finding herself lost in apparently familiar but suddenly strange places. She is torn between the traditional expectations of her family in her role as female and the actual course her life takes. An outsider of a different kind is the dwarf bicycle courier in Paul Robinson s film “Fanatic”. In his everyday struggle for acceptance he is subdued to failure by the obstacles our environment has for people who are different. Also the three immigrant boys in “America” are foreigners in their Europe. In depressing black and white photography we are witness to their loneliness and despair in their assumed home country which denies them equality. Being torn between two cultures is also the topic of “Little Miss Eyefleep”. Here the protagonist walks like a fairy tale figure similar to Little Red Riding Hood through a forest of temptation. She tries to escape from the archaic tradition of forced marriage but is also alienated by the western lifestyle she is confronted with by her surroundings. “Bibendum” is one of the lighter and funnier highlights of the“Living in Europe” section this year. It is a road movie utilizing well-known stereotypes and clichés, not telling the story of movement, but of being stranded somewhere in the midst of Eastern Europe. Most accidents happen within our own four walls. A good reason not to go home. The “Enemy Within” is the story of a man, his toaster and different types of European bread. A parable showing that fear and strangeness is a construction depending.

LivinginEuropeII

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(Amerika)Germany 2010Running Time: 23 min.Director and Script: Eldar GrigorianCamera: Felix Raitz von FrentzEditing: Ulrike TortoraSound: Ben Brummer, Bastian HuberCast: Ervin Bajramovic, Parsa Farjam, Hoschmand GharibContact: [email protected]

Three foreign boys eke out their existence in Munich playing football, going to clubs or in the brothel. Hopelessness and the lack of emotion dominate their whole life. While they understand each other nearly without words, the interaction with other people seems to be quite disordered. Finally they end up in pairs, the third mans’ papers lost their validity. A German western without revolver.

Eldar Grigorian was born in Riga, Latvia. When he was 13 years old, he moved to Germany with his parents. Since 2002 he is studying Film and Television Documentary at the University of Television in Munich.

Fanatic(Fanatic)United Kingdom/Spain, 2009Running Time: 23 min.Director, Script and Director of Photography: Paul RobinsonProducer: Paul Robinson and Raquel Barrera StorraEditing: Celia HainingSound: Ric de MowburyMusic: Nate ConnellyCast: George Appleby, Aida MussachContact: [email protected]

Daniel is a dwarf bicycle courier living and working in Barcelona. One quite normal hot sunny day, a chance meeting and an act of kindness help Daniel take stock of everyday preconceptions.

Paul Robinson has been a professional photographer for the last 15 years working for interior, fashion and advertising clients. Following the publication of “Untitled One” in 2005, a collection of images shot on location in California, Paul enrolled

at The London Film School, on the MA Filmmaking program.

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Ecologia(Ecologia)Russia/Estonia 2010Running Time: 30 min.Director and script: Julia KozyrevaCamera: Monika LenczewskaEditing: Tamara DenisovaSound: Yevgeny ChernovCast: Natasha Zhukova, Valentin Vorozhnin, Veronika BelkovskayaMusic: Mummy TrollContact: [email protected]

When Masha comes back home after a long journey to her native town in the Urals she finds out the old environment feels polluted and the only organic connection becomes a clean water delivery boy Vitaly...

EnemyWithin(Enemy Within)United Kingdom 2009Running Time: 4 min.Director and Script: Adam LinzeyCamera: Tim DoubledayEditing: Dave RidgwaySound: Paul CameronCast: Tim Pritchett and Junior NunooMusic: Alastair CooperContact: [email protected]

Nathan is frightened for his life. His toaster has just threatened to kill him. What can he do? Surely his best friend can offer him some good advice.

Adam Linzey works and lives in London as a blogger and director for music videos.

Julia Kozyreva is a young director from Russia. Graduated from the Ural State University with an MA in Philosophy she continued her studies in LA as a Fulbright Scholar in Cinema Production and later in Baltic Film and Media school. She

was a director’s assistant for Kira Muratova in 2007. Her first film “Ecologia” was accepted to several major European festivals.

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(Skylappjenta)Norway 2009Running Time: 9 min.Director and screenplay: Iram HaqDirector of Photography: John A. AndersenEditor: Vidar FlataukanMusic: Even VaaSound: Hugo EkornesProducer: Gudny Hummelvoll, Kristin HellebustContact: [email protected]

“Little Miss Eyefleep” is the story of a Norwegian-Pakistani girl who escapes the forced marriage her family has planned for her, breaking her own culture.

Iram Haq was born in 1976. She was educated at Wedsterdals School of Communication. She has worked for many years as an actor on stage and in feature and TV films. She also wrote and starred in the short film Old Faithful which was selected for the short film competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. “Little Miss Eyefleep” is her directorial debut.

LittleMissEyefleep

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Partners

Bulgaria Stara Zagora Regional Youth Council

Belarus Minsk Belarusian Christian Democracy

Estonia Johvi Johvi kontserdimaja kino Amadeus

Estonia Tartu MTÜ AEGEE-Tartu

Germany Bad Endorf Marias Kino

Germany Berlin Tilsiter Lichtspiele

Germany Göttingen Erasmus Mundus Master’s Programme Euroculture

Germany Kaiserlautern AEGEE-Kaiserslautern e.V.

Greece Athens Ash In Art

Hungary Budapest Europa Art Cinema

Italy Milan Casa per la Pace

Italy Dolo Il Portico

Latvia Ogre AEGEE Ogre

Malta Valetta St. James Cavalier Center for Creativity

Poland Krakow Kino Pod Baranami

Poland Warsaw Ale Sajgon! club-cafe

Romania Bucarest Noul Cinematograf al Regizorului Român

Spain Alicante Centro de Estudios Ciudad de la Luz

Ukraine Kiev Media-cinema club Na Sinovali

Publisher:Citizens of Europe e.V.Layout: Sash IvanovaCover: Sash IvanovaText:Tristan Guige, Mara Nedelcu, Harry Schusterov, Tobias KunowProgramm:Jürgen Tobisch, Tobias Kunow, Harry SchusterovProgrammAssistant: Tristan Guige, Laura RossoIntern: Barbara Appenzeller TheMyEurope2010team: Mara Nedelcu, Sash Ivanova, Tristan Guige, Laura Rosso, Harry Schusterov, Jürgen Tobisch and Tobias KunowSpecialThanksto: Gert Röhrborn, Frank Burgdörfer, Chryssa Thanella, Hugo Ramon and the numerous partners who helped to make My Europe 2010 become reality.

Contact(V.i.s.d.P): Citizens of Europe e.V.; Kiefholzstraße 20; 12435 Berlin www.citizens-of-europe.eu

IMPRINTThis catalogue is the official publication of My Europe – Europe-wide Filmfestival 2010.

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