Europe on Screen 2022 opens with war drama “Do Not Hesitate”

 

Europe on Screen 2022 opens with war drama “Do Not Hesitate”

EU Film Festival returns for its 22nd edition with virtual, in-person screenings

 

Europe on Screen (EOS), the longest international film festival in Indonesia, began today (16/6) with the screening of Dutch film “Do Not Hesitate” and a flurry of enthusiastic crowd at the festival’s Opening Ceremony. The event kicked-off a scheduled 15-day festival comprising more than 170 film screenings and 20 fringe events. In-person or offline screenings will be held from 16 to 26 June 2022 in six major cities in Indonesia (Jakarta, Bandung, Denpasar, Medan, Surabaya and Yogyakarta) while a selection of films will be showcased via virtual or online screenings on festivalscope.com from 20 to 30 June 2022. All of the festival’s film screenings and fringe events are free of charge.

During the festival’s Opening Ceremony, EU Ambassador to Indonesia, H.E. Vincent Piket, said, “We are excited to be back with our annual flagship cultural event. This year’s Europe on Screen showcases 69 films from 25 European countries. There is a diverse selection of impressive European films, from thriller to comedy, from romance to musical, from drama to horror. We have films from emerging film talents as well as from established masters of European cinema. Many are award-winning films and capturing the predominant issues of today: the pandemic, migration, war.”

Do Not Hesitate (2021) from the Netherlands was selected as the opening film for EOS 2022. Do Not Hesitate tells a story about three young soldiers who were left behind to guard a broken military vehicle in the middle of a desolate and scorching desert. Paranoid, they accidentally shot a goat. The owner, a 14-year-old boy, refused to leave the site until they compensate him. Soon after, things go downhill for the soldiers.

Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Netherlands Embassy, Mrs Ardi Stoios-Braken, said “I’m very proud that we can host the Europe on Screen 2022 in ErasmusHuis and very excited that after two online EoS festivals, that the COVID situation has improved very much and we hoped that it stays that way.”

Meanwhile, Festival Co-Director Nauval Yazid said, "Europe on Screen is one of the biggest European film Festival in the world. We are proud that we are known by the public to maintain the Festival quality by screening many movies from established filmmakers.” “This is the first film festival in Jakarta that is running on a fully-hybrid format. We are happy to meet the audiences again and hopefully can gain more new friends,” said the Festival Co-Director Meninaputri Wismurti.

The Opening Ceremony also introduced #fellini102 programme – a retrospective of the work of Italian film director Federico Fellini – and EoS 2022 Short Film Pitching Project (SFPP) – the festival’s annual short film pitching competition.