Recognizing that excellence in European cinema has been forged by legends across the continent, the Festival is delighted to present a distinctive look at Europe’s rich and enviable cinematic history. From Agnès Varda’s seminal Cléo From 5 to 7 and Kieslowski’s Three Colours: Blue, to Bergman’s Persona, and Bunuel’s surrealist masterpiece The Exterminating Angel, from Antonio Pietrangeli’s iconic I Knew Her Well to the classic of the Czech New Wave, Milos Forman’s Loves of a Blonde, up to the dramatically current Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the Festival will take viewers through an unparalleled journey across Europe as retold by its most inventive and ground-breaking storytellers.

As a tribute to the rich and indelible imprint of Indian cinema, the Festival will offer viewers a look into the classic and the contemporary, through the section Poetry on Screen: Satyajit Ray and Chaitanya Tamhane, featuring the iconic Aparajito and the award-winning Court. Viewers will get an exclusive insight into the artistic underpinnings of director and screenwriter Chaitanya Tamhane, who will participate in an exclusive side-event with a European counterpart.

Given the immediacy of the climate emergency, the Festival will provide a means to assess how it is being felt in different parts of the world through a series of shorts. Nila Madhab Panda’s Megha’s Divorce is a particular highlight, among an anthology of six that form part of the film Interdependence.

A Note From the Curator

To mark this special edition, curator and programmer Veronica Flora has selected a line-up of 42 exceptional films across multiple genres, in close collaboration with Member States. She says this of the Festival, ‘In 2020, Covid-19 has disrupted our lives all over the world and we’re all in this together. People who belong to different geographical, social, cultural, political contexts are living the same experience, often facing tragic consequences of this pandemic. Cultural and creative sectors are among the most affected by the current crisis, due to the sudden and massive loss of opportunities, especially for the more fragile players.

However, today, more than ever, the importance of cinema for our societies is evident, helping us to make sense of this pandemic. Sharing art, in all its forms, even if virtual, has been and continues to be the main and powerful way to stand united, beyond all borders, helping share our human feelings, our fears as well as our hopes about the future.

Thanks to the popular nature of cinema, with it being one of the most immediate and democratic art forms we can enjoy, the European Union Film Festival in India aims to be a magic mirror we can use to jointly get through the current challenging times we are witnessing. This year the fully virtual European Union Film Festival in India will be showcasing the variety and the complexity of the European Union's culture through innovative film programming, opening paths for further fruitful people-to-people and cultural relationships with India and the extraordinary wealth of its millennial culture. We hope this virtual Festival will contribute to make the film sector a key driver for dialogue, especially in the current situation where culture and creativity have become more important than ever.’