MOVIE GUIDE: Cine Europa 17 featured films

MANILA, Philippines- Cine Europa has been one of the film festivals that Filipinos are anticipating every year.

This film festival has been one of the means where Filipinos and European countries exchange and compare the cultural differences.

This year, twenty-three films from seventeen European countries participated in Cine Europa’s 17th year, which will happen in Manila starting September 11-21 at the Shang Cineplex, Cinema 2.

Below are the synopses of the 23 films that’ll be showcased this year which main topic is family.

COUNTRY: Austria
FILM: Zweisitzrakete (Two-Seater-Rocket)
DIRECTOR: Hans Hofer
CAST: Manuel Rubey, Alissa Jung, Simon Schwarz (Detlev),Thomas Stipsits, Alexander Jagsch
SYNOPSIS: Manuel is in love with his best friend, Mia, but she hasn’t a clue, as Manuel doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. Mia suddenly falls head over heels in love with someone else. An Italian, no less. This makes it really difficult for Manuel to win Mia’s heart. Then he hatches a plan: making her childhood dream come true. To do this he needs the aid of Detlev, his roommate, and his self-help group for men left by their wives, and also plenty of courage.

COUNTRY: Belgium
FILM: Ledereen Beroemd! (Everybody Famous!)
DIRECTOR: Dominique Deruddere
CAST: Josse De Pauw, Eva Van der Gucht,Werner De Smedt, Thekla Reuten, Viktor Löw
SYNOPSIS: Marva (17) is a regular at singing contests, which she unfortunately always loses. Nevertheless, her father, Jean Vereecken, dreams of a beautiful career for his daughter. But one day, Jean gets laid off. By way of revenge, he decides to kidnap the number one singer in the country, Debbie. The kidnapping sends great waves of turmoil through the country and sales of Debbie’s latest single soar sky-high, much to the pleasant surprise of Michael, Debbie’s manager. During a secret meeting with Jean, Michael proposes a deal : he will make Marva a star if Jean agrees to keep Debbie out of the way for as long as Michael wants. Jean agrees. For a while, everything goes as planned, but then the public loses interest in the kidnapping. Debbie’s record sales plummet. But Michael had known they would, and, unknown to Jean or Marva, he prepares for a bloodcurdling finale.

COUNTRY: Bulgaria
FILM: Patuvane kam Yerusalim (Journey to Jerusalem)
DIRECTOR: Ivan Nichev
CAST: Elena Petrova, Aleksandr Morfov, Vasil Vasilev-Zueka, Hristo Garbov, Georgi Rusev, Tatyana Lolova
SYNOPSIS: Two Jewish kids brother and sister flee away from Nazi Germany in the early 1940s and unexpectedly find themselves on the Central train station in Sofia. Even more unexpected is their meeting with a group of touring actors. With charm and mumbo-jumbo, obstacles and adventures the actors manage to rescue David and Else.

COUNTRY: Czech Republic
FILM: Ob?anský pr?kaz (Identity Card)
DIRECTOR: Ondrej Trojan
CAST: Libor Ková?, Matouš Vrba, Jan Vl?ek, Jakub Šárka
SYNOPSIS: Ob?anský pr?kaz (Identity Card) is a 2010 Czech bitter comedy film by Ond?ej Trojan basedon a story by Petr Šabach. The movie is set in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and gives a clear picture of the sociopolitical environment of that period. After the short attempt to reform the political system was brutally stopped in 1968 by the invasion of Soviet Russia, new period of communism totality was started Marked formally with big ideals, which nobody trusted anymore; but based on every day creepy repression, reaching into even minor details of private and social life of everybody.

Witnessing their fathers’ generation loss and either social or moral degradation, the new generation is looking for their own response. Their resistance is symbolized by long hair, social non-conformity and prohibited music.

COUNTRY: Denmark
FILM: Jagten (The Hunt)
DIRECTOR: Thomas Vinterberg
CAST: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp
SYNOPSIS: Lucas, a highly-regarded school teacher, has been forced to start over having overcome a tough divorce. Just as things are starting to go his way, his life is shattered. An untruthful remark throws the small community into a collective state of hysteria. The lie is spreading and Lucas is forced to fight a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

COUNTRY: France
FILM: Casse-Tete Chinoise (Chinese Puzzle)
DIRECTOR: Cédric Klapisch
CAST: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile De France
SYNOPSIS: Xavier is now forty years old. We find him with Wendy, Isabelle and Martine fifteen years after L’Auberge Espagnole and ten years after Russian Dolls, Xavier’s life has not necessarily settled down and everything even seems more and more complicated. Although now a father of two children, he still has the travel bug and this time it leads him to the heart of Chinatown in New York. In joyful mayhem, he tries to find his place as a father and as a son... and as a man! Separation. building a new family. Homosexual parents. Immigration. Illegal workers. Globalization. Xavier’s life is a genuine Chinese puzzle. A life like New York and current period, which, although they may not be calm or coherent, at least Xavier has plenty to write about.

COUNTRY: Germany
FILM: Scherbenpark (Broken Glass Park)
DIRECTOR: Bettina Blümner
CAST: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock
SYNOPSIS: Sascha is a clever girl and she certainly has the gift of the gab. As a child, she witnessed her stepfather Vadim kill her mother. When Sascha reads a newspaper article claiming Vadim is a sensitive man who is full of remorse, this is the last straw. But then events take an unexpected turn.

COUNTRY: Germany
FILM: Die andere Heimat (Home from Home)
DIRECTOR: Edgar Reitz
CAST: Jan Dieter Schneider, Antonia Bill, Maximilian Scheidt
SYNOPSIS: Celebrated German auteur Edgar Reitz again returns to the fictional Hunsrueck village of Schabbach and the Simon family in Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision (Die andere Heimat: Chronik einer Sehnsucht), though the events take place in the 19th rather than the 20th century, of which Reitz is one of the foremost German-language chroniclers.

Though in several ways related to the previous Heimat films, this beautifully shot black-and¬white feature is accessible even for those unfamiliar with Reitz’s previous work. In its essence, it’s the story of a poor but knowledge-hungry son of a provincial blacksmith in the 1840s who dreams of emigrating to South America, though the almost four-hour film also offers a look at the protagonist’s extended family and their neighbors, acquaintances and lovers that again suggests much wider things about German (or, rather, pre-Germany Prussian) society as a whole.

COUNTRY: Hungary
FILM: Tuskevar (Thorn Castle)
DIRECTOR: Zacharias Mavroeidis
CAST: Mihalis Oikonomou, KaterinaMavrogiorgi, Kathrin Suckfiel
SYNOPSIS: An updated version of one of Hungary’s most beloved young adult novels (Tüskevár), Thorn Castle tells the tale of two boys who come of age one summer in the countryside.

Tutajos is an excellent student whose parents decide to reward his academic achievements with a vacation to the countryside. Robbed of his gadgets and easy city-lifestyle, Tutajos finds himself completely out of his element until a goodhearted ranger named Matula teaches him how to get back to nature. As Tutajos’ best friend Bütyök joins him on his vacation, the two boys learn the joys of camping, hunting, and living off of the land.

Thorn Castle is a gentle story of friendship and maturity, demonstrating that the key to communing with nature is taming the wilderness within oneself.

COUNTRY: Italy
FILM: Una Sconfinata Giovinezza (A Second Childhood)
DIRECTOR: Pupi Avati
CAST: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Francesca Neri, Serena Grandi
SYNOPSIS: Lino Settembre and his wife Chicca lead a tranquil married life without any serious problems.They are satisfied with their careers. He’s the sports editor at the Messenger and she’s aprofessor of medieval languages at the Universita’ Gregoriana. The only true disappointment intheir 25 years of marriage has been the lack of children. They used the situation to strengthentheir marriage instead of letting it become real problem. But now, in a totally unexpected way,they’re presented with a big worry: Lino is having some really serious memory problems thatlittle by little get worse and start to interrupt the routine of their daily lives and activities both athome and at work. At first both Lino and Chicca decide to laugh it off but the problem manifestsitself more and more until, after careful attention and in-depth medical exams, they receive thediagnosis of degenerative brain disease that’s destroying his brain.

COUNTRY: Italy
FILM: Scialla (Easy!)
DIRECTOR: Francesco Bruni
CAST: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Barbora Bobulova,
Filippo Scicchitano, Vinicio Marchioni
SYNOPSIS: Bruno Beltrame has given up on life, and for a good long time. Of his old talent as a writer, all that remains is just enough for him to complete on commission “books by others“, biographies of footballers and television celebrities (he is currently writing one for Tina, a famous Slovakian porn star who’s become a producer of hardcore movies). His passion for teaching has given way to the listless humdrum of private lessons given at home to equally listless students, among whom figures the fifteen year old Luca, as ignorant as the others, but lively and irreverent.

One beautiful day the boy’s mother turns up, like a ghost from the past, with a revelation that turns Bruno’s world on its head: Luca is his son, a son whose existence he never knew about. And not only: the woman is about to leave for a six month job as an aid-worker in Africa, and the boy can’t and won’t go down there with her. The woman asks Bruno to put him up in his home and take care of him, but without revealing his real identity as the boy’s father. And so begins an unlikely living arrangement between the apathetic ex-teacher and the restless teenager; six months during which Luca will find himself face to face with a male adult figure and Bruno, despite himself, can’t help but take care of his secret son, who above all seems destined to get himself into big trouble.

COUNTRY: Netherlands
FILM: Bon Voyage
DIRECTOR: Margien Rogaar
CAST: Anneke Blok, Hans Croiset, Reinout Bussemaker
SYNOPSIS: When grandfather Bob is seriously ill each member of the Verbeek family learns to deal with death in their own way. The Verbeek family cancels its holiday to France because Bob, the grandfather, is very ill, and during a summer spent at home they have to come to terms with a man who is determined to ignore his own disease. In a film about love, friendship, family and letting go, the family members each find their own particular way of coping with his, and their own,  mortality

COUNTRY: Netherlands
FILM: Mees Kees (Mister Twister - Class of Fun)
DIRECTOR: Barbara Bredero
CAST: Willem Voogd, Sanne Wallis de Vries, Felix Osinga, Brent Thomassen
SYNOPSIS: A hilarious family film chronicling the misadventures of a young intern teacher at an elementary school. The arrival of Sub. Sam, as the kids soon nickname him, couldn’t have come at a better time for Tobias. Because Tobias is pretty smart and cheerful and super funny, but Miss Sanne could never see it. She could just see his problems. And okay, his father may be d-e-a-d and his mother lies in bed all day, but he doesn’t want to think of that at school. And with Sam, he doesn’t have to.

COUNTRY: Norway
FILM: Vegas
DIRECTOR: Gunnar Vikene
CAST: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Helge Jordal
SYNOPSIS: “You don’t choose your family. You choose your friends. Vegas is the story of Thomas, Manrianne and Terje – three teenagers that has nowhere to go. After witnessing his mother being beaten up, Thomas is sent to a young people’s refuge. No one will tell him where his brother is, and Thomas vows to find him. At the refuge, he meets Marianne, who is always screwing up, and Terje, who seems like he’s from another planet altogether. The three of them find that they share a common dream, and together they embark on a journey of love, hate and trust. No one ends up where they planned, but everyone finds a home.”

COUNTRY: Romania
FILM: Pozitia copilului (Child’s Pose)
DIRECTOR: Calin Peter Netzer
CAST: Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Natasa Raab
SYNOPSIS: Seeing a way to reassert control over her adult son's life when he faces manslaughter charges, an affluent Romanian woman sets out on a campaign of emotional and social manipulation to keep him out of prison, navigating the waters of power, corruption and influence. Child's Pose is based on the sense of loss of parents who have to send their children away-physically and psychologically. The parent-child relationship is re-assessed through a son in his 30s that wants to escape from his mother, who in turn wants to keep her adult son by her side. The mother's character is quite familiar, but this film is unique in that the director delicately portrays how the controlling mother wants to deny that her son is destined to leave her by following the characters' emotional flows and gazing at their twisted desires. Luminita Gheorghiu turns in an extraordinary performance in playing a mother struggling to "save" her son. Heading to the conclusion, the film shows that the unhealthy mother-son relationship is not that simple when it comes to matters of humane duty.

COUNTRY: Romania
FILM: Nasa (The Godmother)
DIRECTOR: Virgil Nicolaescu, Jesús del Cerro
CAST: Whitney Anderson, Dragos Bucur, Stefan Iancu
SYNOPSIS: Jennifer is a beautiful American established in Romania, with a career as a teacher of literature in Bucharest. Radu Prodan is married, a respected Romanian financier, and together they have a son of 10, highly intelligent, David.One day, during a baptism as godmother participating police rushing into the church and it arrest her husband. On this occasion, Jennifer is that “respectable” business consists Radu actually laundering money for a local mobster feared, Spanu - The Madfather. That is our heroine finds herself caught in a real gangster story, as not seen before only in the movies. Moreover, judicial restrictions issued to him prevents him out of the country, and, moreover, is not totally convinced of the guilt of her husband. finds only solution to save his family is to form their own “family mafia “to counteract the actions of their enemy, Spanu. In doing so bold she will be assisted by a number of unusual characters, ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations, especially his son, David, who turns out to be more than a brave boy, becoming a support and an advisor unexpectedly .

COUNTRY: Slovakia
FILM: Love
DIRECTOR: Jakub Kroner
CAST: Michal Nemtuda, Kristina Svarinska, Jakub Gogal, Dusan Cinkota
SYNOPSIS: In the Slovak language, the word “love” has two meanings – it is slang for money, and also means love. Aptly, this romantic drama intermingles both. Telling the story of Mato, a young gangster living in East Bratislava, Lóve portrays a life without rules. Despite a profitable occupation and the ability to obtain all he wants in life, there’s something missing. For all his material gains, he yearns for more, to experience love. Life however, has other plans and Mato is forced to assess what truly matters to him. Having found love, he dreams of leaving behind his criminal past and embarking upon a normal life. Directed by young Slovak filmmaker Jakub Kroner and shot entirely in Bratislava, Lóve is filled with thrilling physically-charged scenes, an incredibly gripping plot ala Mission Impossible and outstanding performances which mesh to create a driven and compelling one-of-a-kind action drama

COUNTRY: Spain
FILM: Una Pistola en Cada Mano (A Gun in Each hand)
DIRECTOR: Cesc Gay
CAST: Javier Cámara, Ricardo Darín, Eduard Fernández
SYNOPSIS: Eight confused and perplexed men in their forties find themselves mixed up in daily situations that mirror their main struggle: male identity crisis. Their inability to express what they feel leads them to comic and pathetic situations, leaving women flabbergasted.J. is depressed despite having it all; a candidate for the shrink´s couch. On the other hand, E. is happy although he may have lost everything and is living again in the house of his mother with a cat. S. wishes to go back to his ex wife Elena after two years. Tranquilizers help G. to bear the cheating of his wife. L. confuses the names of his girlfriends with that of his dog. P. screws up courage and clumsily tries to seduce his co-worker Mamen M. and A., two friends who have never told each other intimate things nor their secrets, are exposed by their respective wives. A musical film that examines the love life of some men and women.

COUNTRY: Spain
FILM: El lince perdido (The Missing Lynx)
DIRECTOR: Raul Garcia & Manuel Sicilia
CAST: David Robles, Cecilia Santiago, Conchi López
SYNOPSIS: After one of his countless mishaps, Félix (Felix in the English version), a clumsy and unlucky Iberian lynx, is transported to the animal recovery shelter at the Doñana National Park, along with Beeea (Beeety in the English version), a daredevil goat, and Astarté, a brave falcon with an injured wing. However, the national park had undergone security measures while Félix was gone. Mysterious animal kidnappings have occurred at other national parks and animal preservations, which had caused the shelter to be turned into a prison-like structure, leading Félix’s paranoid chameleon friend Gus to believe that their human caretakers are in a conspiracy to keep the animals locked up for experiments. While the others are skeptical of Gus’s claims, a female lynx, Lincesa (Lynxette in the English version), is brought to the shelter; she and Félix begin to form an attraction to each other.

COUNTRY: Sweden
FILM: Isdraken (Ice Dragon)
DIRECTOR: Martin Högdahl
CAST: Philip Olsson, Malin Morgan, Feline Andersson
SYNOPSIS: The Ice Dragon is an adventure about Mik, aged 11, and his quest for a new home. Mik runs away on an ice dragon, owns a cat factory, befriends brothers Bengt and Bertil, falls in love for the first time and eventually finds his way home.

COUNTRY: Switzerland and France
FILM: Planet Ocean
DIRECTOR: Yann Arthus-Bertrand & Michael Pitiot
CAST: Narrated by Josh Duhamel
SYNOPSIS: Can we imagine a film that would change the way people look at the ocean? Can we explain simply, to everyone, the greatest natural mystery of our planet? And lastly, can we help our children believe in a better and more sustainable world tomorrow?

This is the triple challenge of a new cinema adventure, sponsored by Omega (Switzerland), and signed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and editor- in-chief Michael Pitiot, who brings with him the scientific missions of TARA, a unique pool of researchers, oceanographers and biologists from several countries. Thanks to its astonishing photography, the film takes us on a magnificent and unprecedented journey into the heart of the least known regions of our planet.
The film narrates the most marvelous and also the most terrifying human experiences of our time. Filmed in extreme geographical conditions all over the globe, it describes the modern Odyssey of people who go out to discover their blue planet. The film is also a plea for humanity to respect the world in which we live.

COUNTRY: Switzerland
FILM: L’enfant d’en haut (Sister)
DIRECTOR: Ursula Meier
CAST: Léa Seydoux, Kacey Mottet Klein, Martin Compston
SYNOPSIS: Simon lives with his older sister in a housing complex below a luxury Swiss ski resort. With his sister drifting in and out of jobs and relationships, 12-year-old Simon takes on the responsibility of providing for the two of them. Every day, he takes the lift up to the opulent ski world above, stealing equipment from rich tourists to resell to the local kids down in the valley. He is able to keep their little family afloat with his small-time hustles and his sister is thankful for the money he brings in. But, when Simon partners with a crooked British seasonal worker, he begins to lose his boundaries, affecting his relationship with his sister and plummeting him into dangerous territory.

COUNTRY: United Kingdom
FILM: Metro Manila
DIRECTOR: Sean Ellis
CAST: Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega
SYNOPSIS: Seeking a better life, Oscar Ramirez and his family decide to move from the poverty strick en rice fields of the Northern Philippine mountain ranges, and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila. Upon arriving in the big city, Oscar and his family fall foul to various city inhabitants whose manipulative ways are a daily part of city survival.

Oscar manages to land a job as a driver for an armored truck company and is befriended by Ong, his senior officer. Before long, it becomes apparent that Ong, has been planning the arrival of someone just like Oscar for sometime.