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EU celebrates Year of Cultural Heritage with free film festival

Published:Friday | May 11, 2018 | 12:00 AM
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From left: Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica; Fayval Williams, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service; Robert Montague, Minister of Transport and Mining; Diane Edwards, President of JAMPRO and Delroy Chuck, Minister of Justice. They were at the Europe Day reception held on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at Ambassador Wasilewska’s residence in St. Andrew.

Jamaicans will be able to view a series of film shows free of cost as part of the 2018 European Union Film Festival (EU) set to take place in Kingston between May 14 and 20.

The announcement was made by the head of the European Union Delegation to Jamaica, Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska, at the Europe Day celebration held at her residence on Wednesday.

The ambassador said she is looking forward to a greater cultural exchange with the week-long festival, which is to be hosted by the European Union and its member states.

 

European theme

 

The festival will take place in the context of the observance of the European Year of Cultural Heritage and is to provide a platform to celebrate the diversity and creativity of Europe. The festival is aimed at encouraging more people to discover and engage with the European culture.

"The film festival is part of efforts by the delegation to create a better understanding of Europe and European culture among Jamaicans, with whom the EU shares a long and strong partnership," said Ambassador Wasilewska.

Ten films representing several of te 28 European Union Member states will be shown to the public over the period in their native languages, with English subtitles. Participating countries include Italy, Belgium, Latvia, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, France and Austria.

The festival will open on Monday, May 14, at the Spanish Court Hotel with a free screening of the Italian film Fortunata, which follows the story of a young mother who overcomes several ordeals to achieve her dream of owning her own business. The other films will cover adventure, drama, comedy and history.

Venues for the showings will include the Mico College University, Campion College, and the Ambassador Theatre in Trench Town.

"We made a great effort to reach out to different communities so there would be different locations to showcase the films this year. Being able to have a screening in the Ambassador Theatre in Trench Town was very important to us as we feel the community does not have many opportunities to see films for free, and this is something we hope to replicate in the future," said the ambassador.