01/12/2020 - 50,000 virtual seats for ten auteur films are up for grabs, screening in ten languages and across 45 European countries from 1 December

Launched in 2016 by ARTE and Festival Scope, with the backing of Creative Europe and with the aim of showcasing and aiding the circulation of arthouse films by young Europeans, the ArteKino Festival is making its return with a 5th edition, unspooling 1 to 31 December. On the agenda are 10 feature films (coming courtesy of six women directors and five male directors) - of which five are debut works - which will all be made available online, free of charge, for up to 50,000 viewers (an average of 5,000 viewers per film), via artekinofestival.com and the ArteKino app. The programme will be accessible across 45 countries and in 10 languages (French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Hungarian, Dutch).

Especially eye-catching in the first feature films category are Cat in the Wall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
film profile] by Bulgarian directors Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova (discovered in competition in Locarno last year), Lessons of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Italy’s Chiara Campara (presented during the 2019 Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema line-up), Motherland [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Lithuania’s Tomas Vengris (showcased in last year’s Tallinn Black Nights Festival) and Negative Numbers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Uta Beria
film profile] by Georgian filmmaker Uta Beria (well-received in Arras in 2019 where his project Love in the Time of Riot walked away with the Development Support Grant).

Three second feature films by women directors are also in the offing, two of which were unveiled in Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present section last year: Ivana the Terrible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ada Solomon
film profile] by Serbia’s Ivana Mladenović (which won a Special Jury Prize) and Love Me Tender [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the Swiss-Peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke. Joining them in the selection is Son of Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Psykou
film profile] by Greece’s Elina Psykou, which bagged a Tribeca trophy in 2017.

Likewise set for the showcase is Full Contact [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Dutch director David Verbeek, as well as two documentaries: the French production Sébastien Tellier: Many Lives by François Valenza and THF: Central Airport [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karim Aïnouz
film profile] by Karim Aïnouz (a co-production involving Germany, France and Brazil, which was presented in the Berlinale’s Panorama line-up of 2018).

In terms of the prizes, there are two (consisting, in total, of €30,000) which are due to be handed out at the festival: web users will get to vote for their favourite for the Audience Award, while the Young Audience Award will be adjudicated by a panel of Europeans aged 18 to 25 years of age.

The 2020 ArteKino selection is as follows:

Cat in the Wall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
film profile] – Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria/UK /France)
Full Contact [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – David Verbeek (Croatia/the Netherlands)
Ivana the Terrible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ada Solomon
film profile] – Ivana Mladenović (Serbia/Romania)
Lessons of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Chiara Campara (Italy)
Love Me Tender [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Klaudia Reynicke (Switzerland)
Motherland [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Tomas Vengris (Lithuania/Latvia/Germany/Greece)
Negative Numbers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Uta Beria
film profile] – Uta Beria (Georgia/France/Italy)
Sébastien Tellier: Many Lives – François Valenza (France)
Son of Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Psykou
film profile] – Elina Psykou (Greece/France/Bulgaria)
THF: Central Airport [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karim Aïnouz
film profile] – Karim Aïnouz (Germany/France/Brazil)

(Translated from French)