We’ll be back!

The project is currently in hibernation (it is winter, after all!) ;) The blog will be back in 2012 with a new researcher and a new topic to explore. Stay tuned!

(Photo: Siesta by Jose M. Sancho, 2011)

Video: Interview with Christine Dollhofer

In this video, we interview Christine Dollhoffer, the director of one of Europe’s fastest growing film festivals, Linz-based Crossing Europe Film Festival. Christine’s leadership helped propel Linz into becoming a European Capital of Culture in 2009. Watch as she discusses her work, the role of the film festival in uplifting Linz’s cultural status and her take on whether a single European identity exists.
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And the Award Goes to ….

3/4 of Project CineMaas at the 2011 UM Student Award Ceremony

Monday, September 5th, was special for the Project CineMaas team for at least two reasons: it marked the official start of the new academic year at Maastricht University, but also, and by far the most exciting reason for us, was the celebration of the 2011 UM Student Award ceremony.

Since 2000, Maastricht University honours those individual students or groups, who have made special contribution to society or culture. An artwork and a financial prize of 1,000 EUR, plus a picture of the winner hanging in the ‘Hall of Fame’ is how the university celebrates its most exceptional students.

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Social Realism in Film – The European and the American example

Introduction

In the context of the collective research project I participated, namely the Project CineMaas, through which I explored ‘how the concept of European cinema is constructed in film festivals and how aspects of European identity are depicted in films’, I watched Rosetta by Jean – Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Rosetta is a film about a young girl who wants to escape the misery of her life by finding a job in order to have a ‘normal’ life. The film immediately caught my attention as it is a sociological portrayal of poverty and unemployment in the industrial suburbs outside the city of Liege, in Belgium. With a theme which is hard to find in cinema, since the poor and decadent side of modern Europe is rarely illustrated so straight – forward in films, Rosetta stands out in the crowd. Rosetta belongs to the genre of social realism, plus the directors use documentary style patterns in the film, making Rosetta at times “an observational documentary of a fictional character” (Graham, 2001, par. 8). (more…)

Chinese-Caucasian Romance in Contemporary European Films

Introduction

In the evening of Friday, 15 April 2011, I watched Miss Kicki (2009) at Crossing Europe Film Festival together with three teammates. Actually, on the first day of arrival,the poster of this movie had appealed to me mainly because of a familiar face, Eric Tsang. As probably the only Chinesevisitor of the festival, I absolutely did not expect there would be any chance to watch a movie with Chinese characters, so that I got extremely excited when I found out such a movie would be projected. I could not stop telling my companions about how renowned and esteemed was Eric in China, and immediately invited them to join me to watch the movie.

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Navigating Europe’s Continuing Search for Identity Through European Cinema

Europe: The Cradle of Film Festivals

Image Source: The British Council

Europe has long been considered the “cradle of the film festival phenomenon” (Valck, de., 2008, p. 14). The politics before the Second World War and the post-war climate brought about the right elements for film festivals to flourish, leading them to become a phenomenon in Europe and across the globe. It is difficult to say exactly how many film festivals exist in Europe today but we can already acknowledge their proliferation based on their growing visibility in the mainstream media alone. There could be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of these festivals in Europe, which include some of the most influential and prestigious names in the world such as the Festival de Cannes in France and the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany. However, there are also a growing number of smaller and younger film festivals that are even more relevant for Europe due to its emphasis on its “own” films and filmmakers. (more…)

Q&A with Black Field Director Vardis Marinakis

Earlier this summer, Project CineMaas organized a presentation and screening of the multi-awarded Greek film, Black Field (Mavro Livadi) at Lumiere Cinema Maastricht. This was followed by a live, virtual Q&A session with the director, Vardis Marinakis, which was projected onto the big screen.

Below is the summary of the Q&A session. Read as the director answers questions from the audience, from issues with casting and the film’s impact in the LGBT community, to the dual motifs depicted in the film. (more…)