The ArteKino Festival, launched in 2016 by ARTE and Festival Scope with the support of Europe Créative in order to showcase and promote European arthouse cinema, is back for its 4^th edition, set to take place from Sunday 1 to Tuesday 31 December. On the menu are ten features (helmed by five female and five male directors), including seven feature debuts, which will be available online, free of charge with a total of 50,000 tickets (5,000 per film) available, to be requested via artekinofestival.com and the ArteKino app. The line-up is accessible in 45 countries and in ten languages (French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Hungarian, Polish and Ukrainian).

Standing out from the programme is the explosive politico-familial thriller Sons of Denmark [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
intervista: Ulaa Salim
scheda film] by Ulaa Salim (discovered in competition at Rotterdam) and the disturbing psychological drama Stitches [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Miroslav Terzić
scheda film] from Serbian director Miroslav Terzic (winner among other prizes of the Label Europa Cinemas award in the Panorama section of the Berlinale and of the Golden Antigone award for Best Film at the Cinemed festival in Montpellier).

Also in the programme are German production Thirty [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Bulgarian director Simona Kostova (in competition earlier this year in the Bright Future section at Rotterdam), Psychobitch [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Norwegian director Martin Lund, Ruth [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Portuguese director Antonio Pinhão Botelho, Thirst [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Svetla Tsotsorkova
scheda film] from Bulgarian director Svetla Tsotsorkova (shown in the New Directors section at San Sebastian) and Messi [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] Maud [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Dutch director Marleen Jonkman (which screened in Toronto).

The selection also features three documentaries, two of which were discovered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale (the extremely endearing Selfie [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Italian director Agostino Ferrente, which is among the five films nominated for the European Film Award 2019 for Best Documentary, and Normal [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from fellow country woman Adele Tulli), as well as Sad Song [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from French director Louise Narboni (winner at FIDMarseille).

Two awards (adding up to a total of €30,000) will be handed out: Internet viewers will be able to vote for the Audience Award, and a brand new Youth Jury Prize will be bestowed by a panel of young Europeans aged between 18 and 25 years old.

Finally, it is worth noting that the ArteKino Foundation also supports feature projects, with the ArteKino International Prize, a development award handed out in a dozen of major film festivals. With ArteKino Selection, one film or one cycle is now programmed every month for free, on Arte’s three cinema internet offerings (artekinofestival.com, arte.tv and the YouTube channel Arte Cinéma).

The complete selection of ArteKino 2019 :

Sad Song [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Louise Narboni (France)
Messi [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] and [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] Maud [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] – Marleen Jonkman (Netherlands/Germany)
Normal [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Adele Tulli (Italy)
Psychobitch [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] – Martin Lund (Norway)
Ruth [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] - Antonio Pinhão Botelho (Portugal)
Selfie [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] – Agostino Ferrente (France/Italy)
Sons of Denmark [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
intervista: Ulaa Salim
scheda film] – Ulaa Salim (Denmark)
Stitches [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Miroslav Terzić
scheda film] – Miroslav Terzić (Serbia/Slovenia/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Thirst [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Svetla Tsotsorkova
scheda film] – Svetla Tsotsorkova (Bulgaria)
Thirty [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] – Simona Kostova (Germany)