European Film Festival comes to successful end

The 11th edition of the European Film Festival, organised by the Representation of the European Commission in Malta, came to an end this week after a successful run of 20 films from as many countries.

The festival was launched on October 14 with the Maltese short film Daqqet ix-Xita followed by Love and Rage from Denmark, which were shown at the Magazzino Hall at the Valletta Waterfront.

After that, a film was screened every evening at Dar l-Ewropa in St Paul Street, Valletta. Appreciative audiences followed the variety that the best of European cinema has to offer and at least two of the films were screened twice due to demand.

A special evening was held at the Citadel Cinema in Gozo on October 28, where Seoda: Treasures from the Irish Film Institute was shown to a distinguished audience including Anton Tabone, former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The closing night on Wednesday was held at St James Cavalier, and featured the Polish film 33 Scenes From Life. The award-winning director of the film, Margorzata Szumovska, who was present for this event courtesy of Media Desk Malta, fielded questions from the audience.

Martin Bugelli, head of the representation of the European Commission in Malta, wound up the festival by highlighting the wealth of European cinema in epitomising the diversity of cultures that make up Europe.