Online European Film Festival launched in Baku

The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Azerbaijan, in cooperation with the Embassies of the EU Member States accredited in Azerbaijan and Cineuropa will organize the first online European Film Festival, Report informs.

The European Film Festival will run in a virtual format June 14-29, 2021.

The Festival will include screening of 10 films from 13 EU countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Spain) and Serbia. Majority of the films is a joint collaboration of a few countries.

“This year, our Festival is organized for the first time in an online format making the European cinema even closer and more accessible for the Azerbaijani audience not only in Baku but throughout Azerbaijan. Films have a power to tell stories, express emotions, and trigger ideas. And with this Festival we hope to bring more insights into the European culture and spread the message of intercultural understanding between the peoples of Azerbaijan and European Union,” EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Kestutis Jankauskas said.

Most of the Festival films are the winners of prestigious international film festivals, including the winners of Cannes Festival - “Oleg”, “Fire will come”, “Our Struggles”; Toronto Film Festival and San Sebastian Competition – “The Audition”; Sundance 2020 World Cinema Documentary Competition and Sarajevo 2020 Documentary Competition – “Acasa my Home”, Edinburgh International Film Festival – “Aurora” and many others.

On June 24, the Azerbaijani audience will have a chance to attend a presentation and Q&A session with an internationally established Curator, Lecturer and Media Expert Nikolaj Nikitin. Mr. Nikitin is currently the Artistic Director of the International Film Festival Prague and Head of Studies at SOFA – School of Film Advancement. Before taking the Prague Leadership, Mr. Nikitin was for 17 years the Berlinale’s foreign delegate. Both meetings will be organized via Zoom with interpretation into the Azerbaijani language and livestreamed on EU Delegation Facebook page