Event Highlights: Faces of Eastern Europe
This weekend, over 110 people attended Faces of Eastern Europe, a program of 13 short films from 13 of the countries that have joined the European Union since 2004. Curated by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and supported by the EU Delegation to the US, the Friday and Saturday screenings were organized by the Center for the Study of Europe, in collaboration with BU’s Department of Film & Television. Boston University was one of three locations in the United States invited by the European Commission Delegation to host this interesting program. For more information about the films, please see our event announcement, where you can also download the full program.
Reactions to the program were generally positive, though several people in the audience found some of the submissions, notably the Hungarian Kornél Mundruczó’s “Day after Day” – about the transition from childhood to adolescence in a world without a future – difficult viewing. Audience favorites included Sholeh Zahraei’s “Neighbors” – a short film from Cyprus about what happens in aftermath of wars when people no longer see their neighbors – and Zlatin Radev’s “Can Film” – an allegorical film from Bulgaria about propaganda, dictatorship, revolution, and relations between political leaders and the masses.