What to watch at this year's European Film Festival

The European Film Festival is back in South Africa for its 13th edition and movie theatres across Johannesburg will be buzzing with award-winning international films from 17 to 27 September.

Don’t be misled by the name however, as the festival doesn’t screen strictly European films, but presents audiences with works that were collaboratively produced by African and European creators.

This year, the collaborating African countries include South Africa, Nigeria and others, resulting in universal themes that can resonate with audiences regardless of where they are in the world. Producers from these countries partnered with filmmakers from France, Germany, Poland and other countries.

Here’s what’s in store at this year’s edition of the festival.

The Last Viking (Denmark)

Brotherhood, mental health and secrets from the past fall under the spotlight in this star-studded production featuring top Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who starred in the 2006 global blockbuster Casino Royale.

The story is told through the eyes of a bank robber who has just completed his 15-year prison sentence.

Using dark comedy, the film details the series of events that unfolds when the ex-convict, who is dying to get his hands on the cash from his last heist, is met with the frustration of his sickly brother who cannot recall where he buried the cash.

The bank robber’s brother, suffering from severe psychological trauma and a dissociative identity disorder (previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder), believes that he is John Lennon from the iconic rock band, the Beatles.

My Father’s Shadow (Nigeria/ UK)

In February this year, My Father’s Shadow snatched the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Outstanding Debut. Co-created by British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr, it was the only film in this category that had African ties.

Co-written by his brother Wale, the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story walks audiences through a tale of two brothers chasing the shadow of their elusive father in 1990s Nigeria.

Is money a father’s only responsibility toward his family and is six months of unpaid wages a good enough excuse for a father to neglect his sons? More importantly, how do these questions unfold when two sons witness their hero in such a vulnerable state?

Fatherland (France, Poland, Italy, Germany)

This is a multi-national drama that draws from the real-life events of legendary German author Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, who are faced with the dilemma of picking up the pieces of their lives after World War II.

After 16 years in exile, the author returns to his fatherland, Germany, which is in ruins after the war with the nation being divided, the international press not being subtle about its hostility and his own family needing personal healing.

Mann carries immense guilt over losing his son to suicide, adding to the layer of uncomfortable new normals that he has to grapple with. The film walked away with the Best Director award at this year’s Cannes Festival.

Aquí (South Africa, Portugal and France)

Audiences walk alongside a man named David and a young boy named Simón as they assume new identities following the erasure of their memories.

The pair arrive as refugees in an institutionalised foreign country where they are forced to learn a new language in a sterile and hyper-bureaucratic society.

Their quest to find the boy’s mother leads them to a woman named Inés, whom David convinces to assume the maternal role despite having no biological ties with the young man. It is a heartwarmingly tragic portrayal of humans constructing meaning and family from nothing.

Colours of Time (France)

Art, memory and heritage take centre stage in this French genealogical mystery whose narration alternates between two time periods.

Many years after their family estate in rural Normandy was abandoned, four distant cousins unexpectedly inherit this fortune in the present day… or is it a misfortune?

The film flashes back to the 1890s where 21-year-old Adèle Meunier walked into a cultural revolution during her search for her mother. Modern technology collides with yesteryear’s artistic modems as the four cousins try to retrace their identities.

Young Mothers (Belgium and France)

The psychological and social realities of five teenage mothers fall under the spotlight in this year’s Cannes Festival’s Best Screenplay award winner.

From trying to prove one can be a fit parent after historical substance abuse and the battle over the legal status of a child conceived through the exploitation of an illegal immigrant, to the challenges of connecting with one’s child while trying to heal from familial neglect and trying to protect your child from your own history of domestic abuse and toxic relationships; this film is heavily emotive.

The Great Beauty (France and Italy)

What happens when a 71-year-old socialite, who has spent many years living a hedonistic life while making a living as a theatre critic and writer, discovers that his first love has died?

The lavish life he has lived in Rome's high society is thrown into disarray, casting him into an existential crisis where the lifestyle he has become accustomed to over many decades suddenly appears shallow and without substance.

Against the backdrop of the theatre critic’s life, the production explores the interconnectedness of art, history and genuine human connection.

• What: European Film Festival (JHB Edition)
• Where: Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau (Rosebank Mall), The Bioscope Independent Cinema (44 Stanley)
• When: 17 to 27 September
• Cost: from R90 per screening on Webtickets

There are plenty more films to choose from, in Johannesburg as well as Cape Town and Durban which are all screening the film festival simultaneously.

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