As in the past few years, Espoo Ciné will be opened by a Finnish preview premiere, Shadow of the Eagle (Finland 2005) by Timo Koivusalo. Other main films at the festival include Lars von Trier’s Manderlay (Denmark / Sweden / Netherlands 2005) and Danny Boyle’s Millions (United Kingdom / USA 2004). The festival weekend will be opened by Michael Haneke’s newest work, Caché (France / Austria / Germany 2005).

The Espoo Ciné Selection will screen diverse films from among the best of new European cinema. The series includes preview premieres of films that have succeeded in the Panorama series at the Berlin Film Festival: Radu Mihaileanu’s Va, vis et deviens (France / Israel 2004) and Bouli Lanners’s Ultranova (Belgium / France 2004). The former won the audience’s prize in the Panorama series, while the latter was chosen as the best film in the series by the C.I.C.A.E. jury (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et Essai). Lost & Found (Germany 2004) is a look at present-day Europe through the short films of six young European directors.

Espoo Ciné to continue documentary film series, the Méliès d’Argent competition and the Pink Zone

The festival’s documetary film series will include Fatih Akin’s newest film, the musically rich Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul (Germany 2005). Walter Stokman’s documentary film Based on a True Story (Netherlands 2004) on the other hand portrays the same events that Sidney Lumet based his 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon on.

The Pink Zone will feature Daniela Fejerman and Inés París’s lesbian comedy A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (Spain 2002), Marco Kreutzpaitner’s Summer Storm (Germany 2004) and Sebastien Lifshitz’s Wild Side (France / Belgium 2004), which deals with the many sides of sexuality.

Films participating in the Méliès d’Argent competition series include Robert Pratten’s London Voodoo (United Kingdom 2004) and Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s Frágil (Spain 2004).

Espoo Ciné to expand to Tavastia on the Night of Arts

Sergei Eisenstein’s classic mute film The Battleship Potemkin (Soviet Union 1925) will be screened accompanied by a live performance of the Cleaning Women at the Tavastia Club on the Night of Arts (Thursday 25 August) during the festival week. In addition to the musically accompanied screening, the programme for the evening will include other live music. (Tickets 10 euros, available through Espoo Ciné’s box office and from Tiketti one month in advance, beginning 25 July.)

For children and youth

The international section of Espoo Ciné’s children and youth series has four feature films confirmed so far. Ikke naken (Norway 2004) by Norwegian Torun Lian is a humorous portrayal of teenage Selma’s conflicting emotions towards boys and growing up, while Oskar & Josefine (Denmark 2005) by Carsten Myllerup, whose film Midsommer took part in Espoo Ciné’s fantasy series competition two years ago, is a time travel adventure that takes us to the witch-hunts of the 17th century. Joram Lürsen’s In Oranje (Netherlands 2004), which has received awards at several film festivals, portrays 12-year-old Remco who plays football and dealing with sorrow. The Swedish film Nabila (2003) is a documentary by Håkan Berthas and Johan Bjerkner about a Kurdish-born hip hop girl whose songs carry a strong political stamp.

Espoo Ciné will present a preview screening of Kaija Juurikkala’s new children’s film Valo (Finland 2005) that will premiere in October, and this screening will launch the film’s nationwide tour of school screenings. The film is based on the diaries written by educational philosopher and painter Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo when he was seven years old. Other Finnish productions include Liisa Helminen’s Pelicanman (Finland 2004). For the youngest members of the family the festival offers animations from different countries, including Alicja Jaworski’s touching Lilla grisen flyger (Sweden 2004) which received an award at the Berlin Film Festival. The children’s and youth series will be organised in co-operation with the City of Espoo Cultural Services and it will be supplemented by educational material made from international films as well as actor Kari Ketonen and director Lasse Naukkarinen’s visits to schools in the weeks following the Espoo Ciné festival.

Espoo Ciné is unleashing an electronic ticket counter! Tickets for festival screenings will be available on our Internet ticket store before any other ticket outlets. And, more importantly, most of the tickets bought electronically are more inexpensive than the ones sold at the ticket counter. Take an early start with your festival tickets by visiting the electronic ticket shop from August 25th, 11.00 AM. Ticket pre-sales also take place at the Espoo Cultural Centre from August 1st to August 22nd, from 11 AM to 6 PM, tel. (09) 8165 7215. Ticket prices: 4-6€ / screening (10€ for Tavastia).

The official courier service for films screened at Espoo Ciné is DHL.

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The festival web site opens on May 30th at http://www.espoocine.org/.
For more information, contact the festival office at tel. (09) 466 599, or by e-mail at [email protected].