13 years and more movies!  Cine Europa brings to Cebu 21 amazing films from the different member states of the European Union. 

SHOW SCHEDULES:

Sarah, a beautiful and gifted 15-year-old from a wealthy but chaotic family, holds on to one dream: to run away from home and to become a professional ballet dancer. She meets 30-year-old Vic, who's good-looking, charming and the first person to understand her. At last Sarah has a friend. She trusts him blindly. Vic promises to help her get away from home: together they are strong. They are a team. They fall in love. But Vic is actually extremely dangerous but by now she is entangled in his web.

At home, her parents don't notice what's going on. What are Vic's real

intentions with Sarah? Is she totally on her own now? She cannot rely on

her parents, that's for sure. Her dream seems to be further away than ever...

Based on the bestseller of Ilija Trojanow, is the story of Alex, who, with the help of his charismatic grandfather, Bai Dan, embarks on a journey with tandem and backgammon in search of his real self.

Bulgaria, 1980. Clouds are gathering over Alex's idyllic childhood in a small provincial town. Militia wants his father to spy on Alex's grandfather, Bai Dan, the local King of backgammon. The family decides to emigrate to the West. 25 years later Alex is in German hospital after severe car crash in which his parents have died. Bai Dan goes off to Germany. Alex does not recognize his grandfather because he now suffers from amnesia as a result of the accident. Bai Dan teaches his grandson backgammon. The ancient game restores Alex back to life. Bai Dan drags Alex out of hospital and they set off on the road with tandem bicycle. On this journey back to Bulgaria, which is also a journey back to the past, Alex gets his memory back, and with it, the will to live again. The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Ilija Trojanow.

Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realizes one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits... dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society. He finds himself isolated in his city flat with only his wife Eliska for company.

Unsure how to deal with this new situation, Josef tries to find a way out. After a few vain attempts of finding a decent job he accepts a position at a refundable bottles counter in the local supermarket. In this seemingly inhospitable place, he solves what had been the root of his unhappiness. Surrounded by people full of character and at the centre of a city

community, Josef finally finds his way back to his own wife.

This love story dramatizes the formidable moments in life, but its humor avoids sentiment in the style of a traditional Czech bitter-sweet comedy.

Robert has a number of skeletons in his closet, which he is determined to bury. Although hardly his dream job, Robert sees the position of temporary village constable as a necessary stage on the road to rehabilitation. He just needs to do well and generally behave by the book. However, village life and the macabre provincial order don't fit easily into Robert's plans. Nothing is ever straightforward, and certainly not when you are way out in the country. 

Forbidden Fruit is a story of two teenage girls from a very restrictive faith community travelling to the capital city of Finland to search for freedom and get new experiences while facing the world they have previously been forbidden from.

Victor lives in Vienna with Annette and their little daugher, Pamela. It's spring and Victor, who avoids working, spends his days, and sometimes his nights, outside. Deeply in love with him, Annette trusts him to get himself together as soon as they get back to Paris.

But in France, Victor picks up his bad habits again. After a violent argument, he moves in with a junkie with whom he's fallen in love. Annette leaves Victor and disappears with Pamela.

Eleven years later, Pamela is seventeen years old. She lives in Paris, at her mother's place. One day, she learns that her father is also living in the city. She decides to see him again.

Whatever possessed Guillaume Neuville to invite his ex-wife Aude and his current wife Caroline to his rich Aunt Camilla Tressilian's house in Pointe-aux-Mouettes to spend the end of summer vacation? Friends they will never be. It was completely foolhardy for, although these two women who have nothing in common have yet to tear each other to pieces, although they hold back for the moment, things won't stay that way for long. Two Mrs. Neuville beneath the same roof is one too many. Zero Hour approaches, that moment when all converges for the perfect crime to be committed right down to the last detail. Reluctant at first to welcome two Mrs Neuville in her home, Camilla Tressilian finally accepts the idea. She knows there is no fighting the evolution of modern life. A magistrat's widow, she is very open-minded and sharp-witted, demonstrating a mocking brusqueness that woman with experience often possess. She is torn between her fondness for Guillaume, who she has raised like a son, and the tenderness she feels for Aude, a young, sensitive woman who keeps her feelings and emotions well hidden. This strange family reunion takes a tragic turn when Mrs Tressilian is found murdered in her bed.

The Robber tells the story of a multitalented man: Johann Rettenberger is a successful marathon runner and a serial bank robber. Soberly and precisely he measures his heart rate, strain, stamina and efficiency – both during training runs and bank raids, from which, concealed beneath a ludicrous mask and armed with a pump gun, he takes flight from the police.

An epic tale of an uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotocopoulos, known to the world as El Greco, since he was born Greek.

Set in the 16th century, El Greco’s search for freedom, and love, ranges from the courts of Crete and Venice to Toledo in Spain. Here he is confronted by his greatest adversary the Holy Inquisition.

Never backing down in his fight with the establishments of his day El Greco’s story is one of unusual heroism, betrayal, love, and the power of one man and his creative consciousness to stand out and overcome barbarity and ignorance. An inspiration which lives on to this day.

Philippine-Italian Association

Accio and Manrico are two brothers always at odds due to their choices and their life in a provincial Italian town during the sixties and the seventies. Their formative years are completely different; a succession of extraordinary and intense adventures tests their relationship: stormy and uneasy, but always marked by reciprocal affection and solidarity.

It is considered to be among the masterpieces of Italian cinema. Its original title translates as "the usual unknown persons", a journalistic and bureaucratic euphemism for "unidentified criminals".

Five small time thieves living in the suburbs of Rome plan a robbery against the Monte di Pieta` pawn shop. Not being well versed, they ask for help from Dante Cruciani (Toto`), a hardened criminal on parole, who teaches them how to crack a safe. The preparations for the heist go on notwithstanding various ups and downs as well as second thoughts until they reach a disastrous and comedic end.

Three boys embark on their first voyage across the ocean and find themselves shipwrecked on a tropical island.

Hajo, Padde and Rolf, teenagers from a Dutch harbour town set out to sea as members of Captain Bontekoe’s crew. The ship is bound for exotic lands, and every day introduces the boys to new challenges.

When approaching Java, a fire breaks out which destroys the ship. The boys manage to reach land but it’s not the haven they expected. The island natives are intent on killing them, but one of the local girls, Dolimah, befriends the boys and leads them on a perilous journey through the jungle to safety.

Hajo and Rolf desperately want Dolimah to return with them but she is too afraid of the unknown world beyond her island. So the boys continue without her and finally reach Bontekoe who, in his new boat, is about to set sail back to Holland.

Hannah, a stubborn outsider within a large family, watches her family with mixed feelings as they welcome her new boyfriend.

Hannah, the headstrong rebel of seven siblings, tries to avoid the preparations for her parents’ wedding anniversary, but her charming brand-new lover Victor sort of drags her along, and soon proves to be an ideal son-in-law. As Victor assumes full responsibility for organizing the anniversary river cruise, Hannah is left with mixed feelings. Yet when Victor confides in her that her family is communicating terribly, she claims he is not the person to judge. Suddenly Hannah seems uncertain whether to stay with Victor who proves quite patient and understanding...

Ovidiu Gorea is a high-school teacher who is still living with his parents in Bucharest, Romania at 35. As a teacher, he is not earning enough to support himself so he aspires to become a writer. He strongly believes his talent in writing will bring him fame and money. One day, he meets Diane, a toothpaste commercial model who will change his low wage earner lifestyle as he tries to impress her by being extravagant.

In 1393, the Ottoman Empire was able to contain all provinces and distant lands known to them at that time except for the principality of Wallachia which was led by the great ruler, Mircea the Old. For years, he enforced many strongholds in their land and fought against the Turks and other invaders to keep their country's independence. To keep his only legacy, Freedom, he faced his final confrontation against the Turks.

In 1496, Juana de Castile, daughter of the Catholic Kings, travels to Flanders to marry the Archduke Felipe de Austria, known as ‘El Hermoso’ (The Handsome) and son of the emperor Maximilian. Even though at the beginning this marriage is based on a political alliance between two royal families, passion and desire grow between the couple later on. Juana becomes Queen of Spain when her mother and her older brothers die in 1504. However, due to the pressure of being Queen and the discovery that her husband has many lovers, her mental health starts to deteriorate. Felipe, seeing his wife in this situation, prompts the Burgos Court to declare Juana legally insane and recluses her in the Monastery of Las Huelgas (Burgos, Spain), proclaiming himself as King of Spain.

‘El abuelo’ (The Grandfather) tells the story of love, friendship, honour and betrayal within one powerful family spanning three generations. At the turn of the XX century, Don Rodrigo, Count of Albrit, an old Spanish aristocrat, returns penniless and almost blind from Peru to Spain after losing his large fortune in America. The death of his only son has made him come back to his family estate, now in the hands of his daughter-in-law, Lucrecia. Upon his return, Don Rodrigo is pleased to meet his granddaughters, Doli and Neli, both of whom are adorable and attentive towards him. However, he is burdened by a secret that surrounds them. When the Count was still in America, his only son died. Upon his death, his few belongings, including an unfinished letter, were shipped to the Count. The letter informed the Count that his daughter-in-law, the beautiful Lucrecia, was not a faithful wife to his son. Furthermore, the Count learns that one of his granddaughters is not his true heiress and he is determined to discover which grandchild is worthy of his name and his love.

Set in London in 1961, a city caught between the drab, post-war 50's, and the glamorous, more liberated 60's. Jenny stands on the brink of becoming a woman; a brilliantly witty, clever and attractive 17 year old girl whose suburban life of dull family meals, giggling schoolgirls and homework is about to be blown apart by David – older, urbane and unsuitable. He introduces Jenny to an exciting new world of chic dinners, art auctions, smoky clubs and foreign trips. He charms her parents. But just as their long-held dream of

Jenny getting into Oxford University seems within reach, another kind of life now tempts her. Is it one that sets her free or traps her? Will David be the making or undoing of Jenny?

Tono returns from prison, having spent the last five years there for stealing lumber. He returns to his home village of Cierny Hron to find that everything has changed: he is a stranger to his wife, he hardly knows his 5-year old son, and he cannot find a decent job because no one wants to hire a thief. But Tono does not want to earn his living by stealing, the way he used to. He even loses his close “buddy” Štefan, an influential local businessman with growing power in the region.

His childhood buddies - Marek the Catholic priest and successful businessman Peter - do their best to help Tono find his way back to normal life. Unfortunately, they have their own sources of problems and suffering - the problems of men over 40 - and have to cope when their image of life is confronted with the harshness of reality. Tono feels lonely and desperately looks for a way out of his problems.

Italy, 1956. In the picturesque island of Amatrello, a unique custom keeps the young men of the village busy: when a girl turns eighteen, every boy isinvited to bring a gift for her first date. However the gift is not for the girl, but for thefather… who will ultimately determine which boy takes her on her first rendez-vous! Eighteen-year-old fisherman's son Marcello doesn't care about this tradition until he sets eyes on the enchanting Elena, the daughter of the Mayor, who has returned to the island and – according to the tradition – has come of age. As time runs out and competition rises, Marcello comes up with the perfect gift for the Mayor. But getting that gift isn't easy.. Soon, he is forced to barter with the entire village, as everyone seems to want something from someone else… Marcello's frantic quest ensues, evolving into a process of reconciliation among the village's inhabitants.

Please call the Arts Council office at 233-0452 or email at artscouncilcebu@yahoo.com for further details and invitations to this event.

"Glimpses of Old Cebu" is a 260-page coffee table book of nearly 600 of the best photographs, postcards, stereoviews and lantern glass slides of Cebu and its many towns taken between 1899 and 1940. These images form part of over a thousand images collected over the past 20 years by Lucy Urgello Miller, a Cebuana now based in California. 

But more than just a mere showcasing of rare, never-before-seen images of Cebu, the book also provides a treasure trove of information accompanying every picture. 

Lucy Miller mined every possible source of information such that the reader is able to locate every picture and understand its place in Cebu's history. She herself injects personal anecdotes that were told to her by her aunt, Milagros Espina Urgello, on some of the images shown in the pictures. 

The very rare photos of the war against the Americans, the first Cebu Carnival, the great typhoon of 1912, the sensational Fuente murders of 1915, the slaying of four American teachers in 1902---these are but just a few of the many significant moments in Cebu's history that are chronicled in this book. Cebu's progress as a town and then as a young city are chronicled in the book through pictures of streets, private and government edifices. These are complemented by pictures taken of different towns, their churches, prominent streets and public works infrastructure. 

All told, this book is a must not just for a lazy Sunday reading but also as an important source of colonial period information about Cebu, told through the colonial lens.  

Exhibition dates: April 30-May 14, 2010 at SM City Cebu Northwing.

The Russian Film Festival is a major cultural event that brings to the Philippine audience the best of Russian Cinema today as well as real masterpieces from its glorious past. 

Presented by Mosfilm Studios in cooperation with the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Arts Council of Cebu Foundation, Ayala Center Cebu and the Philippines-Russia Friendship Society, Inc., the Festival will feature five (5) classical and contemporary films produced by the biggest Russian filmmaker, Mosfilm Studios. 

To commemorate this 2010 the 65th anniversary of their victory in the Second World War to which the Soviet Union made tremendous contribution, a photo exhibition will also be mounted for the duration of the festival. 

The Russian Film Festival 2010 is one of the biggest events being implemented in preparation for the 35th anniversary on June 2, 2011 of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the republic of the Philippines. 

The Festival is offered free to the public on March 26 & 27 at Ayala Onstage on a first-come, first-seated basis up to maximum theater capacity. The Films will have English subtitles.