THE 23rd European Film Festival (EUFF) officially launched on Thursday, bringing over 17 feature-length films and documentaries from 20 European countries. The festival will run for the next two weeks in selected Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) venues.
The opening ceremony was held at GSC MidValley, Kuala Lumpur and saw the attendance of delegates from various European embassies including Timo Goosmann, Deputy Head of Mission for the Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia. The ceremony was filled with an urgency unlike previous iterations of the event, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine being foremost in the minds of many.
In his speech, he paid tribute to the Ukrainian delegate who was also in attendance.
“Tonight, we will be watching an award-winning movie called the ‘Mother of Apostles’. This Ukrainian movie shows the immeasurable maternal love and sacrifice of a mother in search of her son, and through her eyes, we see the horrors of war. We show this movie tonight to express our solidarity with Ukraine: we stand together with our Ukrainian friends,” Goosmann said.
To underscore the message, the festival through the Embassy of Poland is also showcasing an exhibition of historical drawings of Polish children from 1946, which are a record of their experiences during World War II and the German occupation of 1939-1945, alongside contemporary drawings of Ukrainian children, related to the war currently taking place.
“The aim of the exhibition is to show that war always looks the same through the eyes of a child. Irrespective of place and time, it is a huge evil and the child is always the victim of it. The similarity between historical and present-day drawings is striking. Children draw tanks, planes dropping bombs, explosions. They draw the injured and the dead, the ruined houses, the graves. But they also draw hope and their dreams for the future,” Goosmann explained.
“Life imitates art,” said Ms Koh Mei Lee, Chief Executive Officer of GSC in her welcoming speech. She talked about learning the core values for the survival of humankind from cinema. “The everyday stories of the human strength, resilience, and of love – be it filial love or romantic love, stories of family bonds, the dramas on screens mirrors life itself. It reminds us to be humble, kind, and considerate to each other and celebrate every day as it comes.”
Goosmann closed his speech by adding, “The motto of the European Union is ‘In varietate concordia’, which translates to ‘united in diversity’. As Malaysia is a multicultural and multilingual country itself, I hope the European Film Festival can serve as a bridge between our continents to connect the people of Malaysia with Europe, not only offering entertainment, but also creating a deeper understanding of the cultural diversity Europe offers.” – The Vibes, November 5, 2022
