06-05-2020

Free Online Screenings for Europe Day - Big Stories from Small Countries

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    LJUBLJANA: Five European countries, including Slovenia, will present four Creative Europe MEDIA supported films on 8 May at 20.00 CET in the frames of Europe Day - Big Stories from Small Countries. The films will be available for free viewing on-line for 48 hours in the participating countries. Europe Day held on 9 May every year celebrates peace and unity in Europe. The date marks the anniversary of the historic 'Schuman declaration'.

    Pretenders by Vallo Toomla Creative Europe MEDIA Desks from Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia have organised onlinine screenings of films produced by the five participating countries, which won awards at international film festivals. The films are available only in the five countries. The event was created to provide film fans with a chance to enjoy less known cinematography from these EU countries.

    "In a way, we wanted to make a cinematic bridge between the regions of the Baltic and the Adriatic on the occasion. If you look at these two regions, we might be far away, but we do share similar low audiovisual production capacity and at the same time we are proud of some great cinema pieces coming from our countries," Sabina Briški Karlić, responsible for the The Bridges of Time by Audrius Stonys and Kristine BriedeMEDIA Programme at the CED in Slovenia (MOTOVILA), told FNE

    She added, "We wanted to make the best out of the lockdown situation and shed a light on quality film productions coming from these small European countries, in the framework of the global #CreativeEuropeAtHome campaign. In this way, we’re putting film on the map of numerous events taking place on the Europe Day all around the continent helping the public to get familiarised with the work of all the relevant European institutions and organisations seeking to promote European values."

    The screened films are: the Slovenian/Bosnian/Macedonian crime drama Nightlife directed by Damjan Kozole and produced by Vertigo in coproduction with SCCA/pro.ba and Sisters and Brother Mitevski; the Estonian/Latvian/Lithuanian art-house thriller Pretenders directed by Vallo Toomla and produced by Amrion in coproduction with Studio Uljana Kim and Nightlife by Damjan KozoleLocomotive Productions; the Latvian/Lithuanian/Estonian cultural historical documentary The Bridges of Time directed by Audrius Stonys & Kristine Briede and produced by Studio Nominum in coproduction with VFS Films and Vesilind; and the Croatian/Slovenian/Serbian romantic drama The High Sun directed by Dalibor Matanić and produced by Kinorama in coproduction with Gustav Film and SEE Film Pro.

    The High Sun by Dalibor MatanićIn addition, a variety of Slovenian films can be seen free of charge on the Slovenian internet film database, the BSF platform. A total of 138 films have been screened since 16 March, when the action started. The programme is updated twice each week, and the latest package of films includes the award-winning animated short film The Box directed by Dušan Kastelic and recipient of the Prešeren Fund Award for best animated film.