The European Film Festival will start in Riyadh from Sunday. Announcing the start of the film festival for the third consecutive year in Riyadh, the Delegation of the European Commission in Saudi Arabia said a total of 12 films from 11 countries from the European Union will be screened in the auditoria of different embassies and residences of ambassadors. Luigi Narbone, the European Commission's Ambassador in Riyadh, will inaugurate the 23-day long European Film Festival at the German Embassy here. The festival will continue till May 18 and has no entrance fee. The films selected for this year's festival include Gomorra, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or and was the winner of Le Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 as well as of the Golden Globe for best foreign movie and was the recipient of the European film 2008 best film award. Other films to be screened at the festival are the Spanish movie Volver directed by Pedro Almodovar that won 15 awards, Goodbye Lenin from Germany, a 2003 box-office success, Le Couperet (France), Empities (Czech Republic) and others from countries such as Belgium, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland and Turkey. The source said it would be the third consecutive year for the European Film Festival to be organized in Riyadh in cooperation with the European Commission. European cinema offers an alternative view of the world by portraying qualities such as creativity and a rich diversity of languages and cultures as compared to commercial movies from Hollywood, said a statement released by the European Commission. The European Film Festival will be a great opportunity for fans of international films to discover the best recent productions as well as other award winning movies produced in the EU countries, the statement said. “For the European Union, it would be fantastic to be able to have an EU-Saudi film festival in the future,” said Antonio Calvo, Deputy Head of Mission of the European Commission Delegation in Riyadh. The films will be screened in the original language with English subtitles. The festival's scheduled program, a brief summary of the films and registration details can be found on the European Commission Delegation website www.delsau.ec.europa.eu.
