The European Union (EU) Delegation to the Philippines, along with its EU member states, will kick off tomorrow, October 31, the annual Cine Europa film festival to be presented at a drive-in theater setting amid the challenge posed by the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.

Touted as Europe’s biggest and most exciting film festival, Cine Europa will feature in its premier night the German film “Sweethearts” at the SM MOA Drive-in Cinema along Seaside Blvd. in Pasay City.   

Directed by renowned German actress Karoline Herfurth, “Sweethearts” is a comic-thriller about professional criminal Mel and her easily-panicked hostage Fanny. Forced together by fate and an ill-executed diamond robbery, the couple is trapped in a race against time. Soon pursued by a relentless detective and the greedy Berlin underworld, they are left with no other choice than to work together.

This year’s Cine Europa assembles 19 films from 20 European countries for 30 days and made accessible by signing up at www.cineeuropaph.com.

Despite the virtual environment, Cine Europa will maintain its strong relations with its loyal patrons including those from the various provinces across the country.

The unique feature in this 23rd edition of Cine Europa is the use of Festival Scope, the EU’s library of quality films, that will allow the Delegation to show films from countries not represented in the Philippines. The roster of films adds up to those individually provided by European embassies in Manila. 

The EU Delegation, the European Union member states embassies and Embassy of Switzerland, cultural institutes including  Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes Manila, Philippine-Italian Association, continue to value the support of the Filipino movie-going public and have endeavored to curate a sample of films showing the diversity of the European film industry.

Also featuring in Cine Europa 23 are three animated films for families and children. These value-laden films are expected to share lessons that all viewers can relate with. 

Rafael de Bustamante, First Counselor of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, said that Cine Europa aims at exposing the Filipino public to films that rarely make it to the commercial theaters. Cine Europa, he added, “wants to increase cooperation between, our creative industries and to maximize reach by the use of new platforms.”  

Bustamante said that the “celebration of the cultural partnership between the EU and the Philippines continues with Cine Europa which is getting bigger every year”.

“The EU wants to sustain its tradition of providing highly-acclaimed European films to the Filipino moviegoers”.