8 Important Films To See at the European Union Film Festival 2018 in Singapore

PUBLISHED April 24th, 2018 06:00 am | UPDATED June 3rd, 2020 12:15 am

Calling all film buffs in Singapore – have you gotten your tickets for the European Union Film Festival (EUFF)? Happening from 10 to 20 May this year at the National Gallery Singapore, the annual event, now in its 28th edition, is in fact the city’s longest running foreign film festival, and by no small measure either.

EUFF 2018 will celebrate the wide range of Europe cinema’s creativity and diversity, bringing to you over 20 recent and carefully curated cinematic successes – from tales of bravery to comedic capers and films that focus on female perspectives. These films might each stem from a different country of origin, but it’s clear that they are representative of Europe’s common cultural heritage, along with some regional representation from Singapore to boot.

Got your attention? Come look through the window into the intriguing world of European cinema with these eight films to catch at the festival!

Fly Away Home (2016)

Austria

The opening film of the EUFF sees the end of the Second World War through the innocent eyes of 10-year-old Christine Nöstlinger, whose house in Vienna is hit during an air raid. Completely destitute, she and her mother flee to a villa in Neuwaldegg while her grandparents stay in the bombed apartment. Meanwhile, Christina’s father deserts from the hospital after he was heavily wounded in his legs, hiding from both German and Russian soldiers as he struggles to get home to his family.

When: Thursday, 10 May 2018, 7pm

Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle (2017)

The Netherlands

The cross-cultural film Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle is a woolly fairytale about discovering ones roots. Young Montrealer Anna arrives in a small Italian village to fulfil her mother’s dying wish, to scatter her ashes returned to her hometown, eventually finding herself embroiled in a turbulent series of family histories and bizarre feuds – particularly the story of her father, a romantic Dutch farmer who cycled all the way to Puglia after losing his farm during the floods of 1953.

When: Saturday, 12 May 2018, 4pm

Life Feels Good (2013)

Poland

Winner of both audience and jury awards at the Montreal World Film Festival, Life Feels Good tells the story of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy and his troubled youth growing up during Poland’s transition in the 80s, brilliantly depicting the heart-wrenching realities of the physically disabled as they fight for the opportunity to live and love without boundaries. You meet Mateusz at 30 and institutionalised, as his fate is soon decided by a committee of physicians, then learn about his story in flashback as he proves that he is in fact highly intelligent and capable.

When: Saturday, 19 May 2018, 7pm

The Divine Order (2017)

Switzerland

It’s not a proper film festival without some authentic female representation, is it? The Divine Order is Petra Volpe’s take on offering authentic perspective from women, exploring suffrage in Switzerland – more precisely, in a small and quaint Swiss village in 1971.  In a timely echo of our current time, see how peer pressure can influence politics and society, as the young housewife Nora begins to campaign publicly for women’s right to vote – something that was unprecedented before her time.

When: Friday, 18 May 2018, 9pm

Insyriated (2017)

Belgium

Also featuring a strong female lead, Philippe Van Leeuw’s Insyriated tells of a Syrian family trapped in their apartment as a siege rages on outside, and a mother of three, Oum Yazan trying desperately to keep everyone together. When bombs run the risk of destroying the building and snipers turn courtyards into kill zones, she turns her flat into a safe harbour for her family and friends while trying the maintain the thin humdrum of routine inside the walls.

When: Thursday, 17 May 2018, 9pm

The Treasure (2015)

Romania

A dark comedy and adventure that sees two men going on a hunt for buried ‘treasure’, The Treasure is a delightful film that unearths not just dirt, but traces of Romania’s tumultuous history. It starts with Costi – who sees himself as a modern day Robin Hood, especially for his wife and six-year-old son – being accosted by his neighbour to start digging in his grandparents’ backyard. Soon, obstacle after obstacle and one weekend later, they eventually find some loot, but it’s not quite what they imagined.

When: Wednesday, 16 May 2018, 9pm

The Violin Player (2018)

Finland

Follow the story of Karin, a widely-celebrated violinist who stellar career comes to an abrupt halt after a car accident damages her finger. Determined to carry on with music, she starts teaching students twenty years younger than her, eventually to find herself falling in love with one of her students, Antti. As fate would have it, the pair are not a suitable match – both being intensely passionate about music and their careers, love for each other soon gives way for love for the violin.

When: Friday, 11 May 2018, 7pm

Fragment (2015)

Southeast Asia

FRAGMENT may not be a European film, but this omnibus is one to watch. Showcased as part of an EU-Singapore-ASEAN special collaboration, look forward to a stunning collage of ten stories celebrating the diversity of Southeast Asian independent cinema, each story embracing the other’s subjectivities through collective sentiments of vulnerability and fortitude. As for the participating filmmakers? They include Wesley Leon Aroozoo and Kan Lume from Singapore, Malaysia’s Tan Chui Mui, Lucky Kuswandi from Indonesia, and Kavich Neang from Cambodia.

When: Tuesday, 15 May 2018, 6.30pm

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The European Union Film Festival is happening 10 – 20 May 2018 at National Gallery Singapore. Tickets start from $11, available via SISTIC. For the full list of films that will be screened, click here.