Pittsburgh EU Film Festival 2023

 

January 20-26, 2023


IN-PERSON THEATRICAL SCREENINGS:
Harris Theater (Pittsburgh Cultural Trust)
809 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

 

FEATURED FILMS:
Featuring 2022-23 MEETEU Emerging EU Filmmaker—Vida Skerk

PROMO CODE for discounted tickets (Pitt Students, Staff, and Faculty only): EUPITT

 

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2023

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I Never Cry (Jak Najdalej Stad)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Poland (2020)
DIRECTOR: Piotr Domalewski

Ola, a seventeen-year-old from a small city, sets off to a foreign country on her own. It will turn out to be the trip of her lifetime, a trip into the unknown, on which she will try to reconnect with her estranged father. In Ireland, she will come to know a different world and meet people who will change her approach to life.

 

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedEternal Winter (Örök Tél)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Hungary (2018)
DIRECTOR: Attila Szász

Christmas 1944. Soviet soldiers invade Hungary and drag every young ethnic German woman away from a small village and transport them to a Soviet labour camp where they are forced to work in the coal mines under inhuman conditions. This is where Irén meets fellow prisoner Rajmund who decides to teach her how to survive. While she is determined to return home to her little daughter and family, history and fate have a different plan: Irén and Rajmund fall in love. Based on a true story. “Eternal Winter” is the very first feature film about the 700,000 Hungarian victims of the Soviet labour camps whose stories remained untold for over 70 years.

 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2023

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedThe Raven and the Seagull (LYKKELÆNDER)  
2:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Denmark (2018)
DIRECTOR: Lasse Lau (will be present at screening)

Following fictionized lives of the inhabitants of Greenland, “The Raven and the Seagull” tenderly recreates and overimagines the myths and misconceptions which exist between the people and landscapes of Greenland and Denmark. Examining a colonial history embedded not only in the heartbreakingly beautiful Greenlandic terrain but also in the infinite landscapes of a country’s mind, this docu-legend by Danish filmmaker and artist Lasse Lau prompts the turning of a new lens on a national past and future promise.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedfollowed by Night Ride (Noćna vožnja)

COUNTRY: Croatia
DIRECTOR: Vida Skerk

Night Ride (Noćna vožnja) explores quarter-life identity crisis through the perspective of a twentysomething student in Croatia. Dunja, the main character, questions her decision to move to a bigger city and regrets leaving behind the safety of her hometown where she could always count on the support of her close friend, Sara. Exploring the “borders” and boundaries of the film medium itself, the film is constructed as a series of dreams and nightmares which evade a linear narrative structure, and retain the qualities of a more stream-of-consciousness type of approach, presenting to the viewer Dunja’s inner world in its most authentic, raw and honest form.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedLola (Lola Vers La Mer)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  France (2019)
DIRECTOR: Laurent Micheli

  • Lola, 18 years old, bleach blonde hair, lives in a foster home with Samir, her only friend. Impulsive and lonely, she is trying to get her diploma as a veterinary assistant. When her mother passes away, her father Phillip makes sure that Lola will miss the ceremony. Two years before that, Philip was throwing her out of the family home: at the time, Lola was still Lionel - Philippe is determined to fulfill Catherine's last wish: to be dispersed to the North Sea, in the dunes of her childhood home. Lola on the other hand is furious against her father, but she will not leave her mother alone in this last journey. So they take off together, both unwilling to share a car but determined to take Catherine home.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedRabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Rabiye Kurnaz gegen George W. Bush)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Germany (2022)
DIRECTOR: Andreas Dresen

Desperate to help her son, Rabiye Kurnaz, a housewife and loving mother from Bremen, goes to the police, notifies authorities and almost despairs at their impotence and in the end, against all the odds, something truly remarkable happens.

 

 

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2023

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Schoolgirls (Las Niñas)
3:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Spain (2020)
DIRECTOR: Pilar Palomero         

A story of Celia, an 11-year-old girl who studies at a nuns' school in 1992. Celia is a good girl; she is a responsible student and a considerate daughter. The arrival of a new classmate will open a little window through which Celia will discover a whole new world. Together with her new friend and some older girls, Celia will enter a new stage of her life: adolescence, the stage of first-times. Her body needs to experiment, try new things, and stop being a little girl, even if that entails confronting her mother and everything that meant comfort and security.

 

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Let There Be Light (Nech Je Svetlo)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Slovakia (2019)
DIRECTOR: Marko Škop

Milan (40) has three children and does construction work in Germany in order to provide for his family in Slovakia. While visiting his home over Christmas he discovers that his eldest son Adam is a member of a para-military youth group. The boy is involved in bullying and the death of a class-mate. The father has to decide what to do. In this process, along with his wife, he comes to discover the real truth about their son, their family, themselves and the community around them.

 

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An Uncertain Border (Un Confine Incerto)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Italy (2019)
DIRECTOR: Isabella Sandri

Richi (Moisé Curia) is on the road with a little girl (Anna Malfatti) in a camper van through southern Germany. They have a good time with each other, dress up, dance and laugh a lot. He is a seed salesman, she his little doll. An unusual couple, but happy? When the two stop off at a restaurant, the landlord (Heio von Stetten) becomes skeptical. Something is not right here! What's more, the girl speaks a very rare language: Ladin. Meanwhile, in Rome, police inspector Milia Demetz (Cosmina Stratan) is investigating cyberspace and is hot on the heels of a pedophile network. When she discovers a girl in one of the anonymous videos, she is soon certain: the lasciviously photographed child is Magdalena Senoner, who disappeared in Tyrol at the age of five. But who is behind the camera? When the landlord forwards the footage from his surveillance camera to the police, all the threads come together. Can Milia save little Magdalena?

 

 

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2023

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedThe Raven and the Seagull (LYKKELÆNDER)  
5:00 p.m.

COUNTRY: Denmark (2018)
DIRECTOR: Lasse Lau (will be present at screening)

Following fictionized lives of the inhabitants of Greenland, “The Raven and the Seagull” tenderly recreates and overimagines the myths and misconceptions which exist between the people and landscapes of Greenland and Denmark. Examining a colonial history embedded not only in the heartbreakingly beautiful Greenlandic terrain but also in the infinite landscapes of a country’s mind, this docu-legend by Danish filmmaker and artist Lasse Lau prompts the turning of a new lens on a national past and future promise.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generated

followed by Night Ride (Noćna vožnja)

COUNTRY: Croatia
DIRECTOR: Vida Skerk

Night Ride (Noćna vožnja) explores quarter-life identity crisis through the perspective of a twentysomething student in Croatia. Dunja, the main character, questions her decision to move to a bigger city and regrets leaving behind the safety of her hometown where she could always count on the support of her close friend, Sara. Exploring the “borders” and boundaries of the film medium itself, the film is constructed as a series of dreams and nightmares which evade a linear narrative structure, and retain the qualities of a more stream-of-consciousness type of approach, presenting to the viewer Dunja’s inner world in its most authentic, raw and honest form.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generated

I Never Cry (Jak Najdalej Stad)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Poland (2020)
DIRECTOR: Piotr Domalewski

Ola, a seventeen-year-old from a small city, sets off to a foreign country on her own. It will turn out to be the trip of her lifetime, a trip into the unknown, on which she will try to reconnect with her estranged father. In Ireland, she will come to know a different world and meet people who will change her approach to life.

 

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2023

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedLola (Lola Vers La Mer)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  France (2019)
DIRECTOR: Laurent Micheli

  • Lola, 18 years old, bleach blonde hair, lives in a foster home with Samir, her only friend. Impulsive and lonely, she is trying to get her diploma as a veterinary assistant. When her mother passes away, her father Phillip makes sure that Lola will miss the ceremony. Two years before that, Philip was throwing her out of the family home: at the time, Lola was still Lionel - Philippe is determined to fulfill Catherine's last wish: to be dispersed to the North Sea, in the dunes of her childhood home. Lola on the other hand is furious against her father, but she will not leave her mother alone in this last journey. So they take off together, both unwilling to share a car but determined to take Catherine home.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedEternal Winter (Örök Tél)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Hungary (2018)
DIRECTOR: Attila Szász

Christmas 1944. Soviet soldiers invade Hungary and drag every young ethnic German woman away from a small village and transport them to a Soviet labour camp where they are forced to work in the coal mines under inhuman conditions. This is where Irén meets fellow prisoner Rajmund who decides to teach her how to survive. While she is determined to return home to her little daughter and family, history and fate have a different plan: Irén and Rajmund fall in love. Based on a true story. “Eternal Winter” is the very first feature film about the 700,000 Hungarian victims of the Soviet labour camps whose stories remained untold for over 70 years.

 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2023

A picture containing textDescription automatically generated

Let There Be Light (Nech Je Svetlo)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY:  Slovakia (2019)
DIRECTOR: Marko Škop

Milan (40) has three children and does construction work in Germany in order to provide for his family in Slovakia. While visiting his home over Christmas he discovers that his eldest son Adam is a member of a para-military youth group. The boy is involved in bullying and the death of a class-mate. The father has to decide what to do. In this process, along with his wife, he comes to discover the real truth about their son, their family, themselves and the community around them.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generatedRabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Rabiye Kurnaz gegen George W. Bush)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Germany (2022)
DIRECTOR: Andreas Dresen

Desperate to help her son, Rabiye Kurnaz, a housewife and loving mother from Bremen, goes to the police, notifies authorities and almost despairs at their impotence and in the end, against all the odds, something truly remarkable happens.

 

 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023

A picture containing textDescription automatically generated

Schoolgirls (Las Niñas)
5:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Spain (2020)
DIRECTOR: Pilar Palomero         

A story of Celia, an 11-year-old girl who studies at a nuns' school in 1992. Celia is a good girl; she is a responsible student and a considerate daughter. The arrival of a new classmate will open a little window through which Celia will discover a whole new world. Together with her new friend and some older girls, Celia will enter a new stage of her life: adolescence, the stage of first-times. Her body needs to experiment, try new things, and stop being a little girl, even if that entails confronting her mother and everything that meant comfort and security.

 

A picture containing textDescription automatically generated

An Uncertain Border (Un Confine Incerto)
7:30 p.m.

COUNTRY: Italy (2019)
DIRECTOR: Isabella Sandri

Richi (Moisé Curia) is on the road with a little girl (Anna Malfatti) in a camper van through southern Germany. They have a good time with each other, dress up, dance and laugh a lot. He is a seed salesman, she his little doll. An unusual couple, but happy? When the two stop off at a restaurant, the landlord (Heio von Stetten) becomes skeptical. Something is not right here! What's more, the girl speaks a very rare language: Ladin. Meanwhile, in Rome, police inspector Milia Demetz (Cosmina Stratan) is investigating cyberspace and is hot on the heels of a pedophile network. When she discovers a girl in one of the anonymous videos, she is soon certain: the lasciviously photographed child is Magdalena Senoner, who disappeared in Tyrol at the age of five. But who is behind the camera? When the landlord forwards the footage from his surveillance camera to the police, all the threads come together. Can Milia save little Magdalena?

 

 

QUESTIONS? Email us at eufilmfest@pitt.edu

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European Studies Center
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
EU Delegation to the U.S.