Godard’s “Book of Image” projection at the Cinema Ideal in Lisbon on Monday coincides with the opening of the European Film Night, which will run until December 7 in 34 cities in 27 states, Member States.
In all, there will be 50 free sessions dedicated to 20 films supported by the European Union media program, such as Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazarus,” and Benedikt Erlingsson’s “A Woman at War” .
The session in Lisbon, dedicated to the latest film by Jean-Luc Godard, includes the participation of the director Pedro Costa, as a guest, and begins at 9:30 p.m.
‘The picture book’ is ‘a reflection on the cinema and the state of the world’, under the threat of war, and won the special Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
Other films announced for the initiative include Aki Kaurismäki’s “The Other Side of Hope”, Yórgos Lánthimos’s “Sacrifice of a Sacred Deer”, Eva Husson’s “Les filles du soleil”, Benjamin’s “Red” Naishtat, Lukas Dhont’s ‘Girl’, Erik Poppe’s ‘Utoya July 22’, which will also be screened for free in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Dublin, Paris, Nantes, Rome, Milan, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Warsaw or Vilnius.
Cinema Ideal, in Lisbon, is the only Portuguese room, the Europa Cinemas network that appears on the map of the initiative.
Launched under the program Europa Creative Media, which has supported the audiovisual sector, the European Film Night aims to show the EU contribution to the sector.
“Film is an essential part of our rich and diverse European culture and is helping to strengthen the bonds between people who feel the same passion and emotion in a film,” said Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Economy and Digital Society by the statement.
Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, said, quoted in the same statement: “European films are part of our cultural heritage that we have celebrated throughout the year with the aim of making it accessible to all.
Each of the 34 participating cinemas will host a special event at night. The films were chosen by the local exhibitors in order to adapt the program to their audience.
All the cinemas involved belong to the Europa Cinemas network of the Creative Europe MEDIA program, in partnership with the Arte channel.
The European Commission’s direct support for European cinema dates back to 1991 with the creation of the MEDIA program, which provides, among other things, financial support for distribution outside its country of production.
Every year, on average, more than 400 films are made available to audiences in another European country, with the help of MEDIA, the Commission said in the statement released today.
In May of this year, the Commission proposed to increase the program budget by almost 30 per cent under the Community framework of 2021-2027.
