16/03/2022 - The 17th edition of the Paris European film festival will unfold from 17 to 31 March, with the films by Alina Grigore and Stefan Arsenijević headlining the competition for the Sauvage Award

Tomorrow, the 17th edition of the "L’Europe autour de l’Europe" festival will open with The Butterfly Hunt by Georgian director Otar Iosseliani (in the presence of the director to whom a tribute will be paid this year through 12 films), and will take place from 17 to 31 March in about fifteen venues in Paris and its close suburbs (including the 7 Parnassiens, the Balzac, the Lincoln, the Saint-André des Arts, the Studio des Ursulines, the Méliès and the Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation) and will offer an original immersion in the diversity of the Old Continent's seventh art.

The Prix Sauvage competition, which will see nine feature-length fiction films compete, is one of the highlights of the event led by Irena Bilić. Among these films, Blue Moon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Grigore
film profile] by Romanian director Alina Grigore (winner in San Sebastián) and As Far as I Can Walk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefan Arsenijević
film profile] by Serbian director Stefan Arsenijević (winner in Karlovy Vary with the Crystal Globe for Best Film, Best Actor, a special mention for photography and the Label Europa Cinemas) stand out. Also in the running are Soul of a Beast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lorenz Merz
film profile] by Switzerland's Lorenz Merz (special mention in Locarno), The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash [+see also:
trailer
interview: Michał Krzywicki
film profile] by Poland's Michał Krzywicki, Land of Warm Waters by Hungary's Igor and Ivan Buharov, Longing for Today by Norway's Knut Erik Jensen, In Limbo by Alexander Hant and two French titles: À Terre promise by Lionel Bernardin and Adieu Vénus by Martin Ziegler.

The Prix Présent competition will feature nine documentaries, including Waters of Pastaza [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Portugal's Inês T. Alves (unveiled at the Berlinale's Generation programme), Taming the Garden [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Salomé Jashi
film profile] by Georgian director Salomé Jashi (screened at the Sundance Festival and the Berlinale Forum), Days and Nights of Demetra K. by Greek director Eva Stefani and Elsewhere by Danish director Vibeke Bryld. Also on the bill are The Lasting Formation by German Christian Bäucker, Freestyle to Montenegro by Albanian Ardit Sadiku, the Norwegian production A Devil with Harpoon by Mirko Stopar, A.I. at War by Frenchman Florent Marcie and Navigators by his compatriot Noah Teichner.

The programme also includes a short film competition, as well as meetings and events (notably around Axel Corti's Welcome in Vienna trilogy and the documentaries L'état de guerre - on ne les a pas laissé seuls by Polish filmmaker Jan Czarlewski and Perdues d'amour by French filmmaker Keren Moriano) and a section called Salon expérimental. Lastly, in the tributes department, in addition to Otar Iosseliani, the festival will also present films by Ingmar Bergman, Henning Carlsen, Aleksandar Petrović and Manoel de Oliveira (via a programme of some twenty films called Mostra Imaginaires Coloniaux and organised as part of the 2022 France-Portugal Season).

(Translated from French)