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LET'S CEE Film Festival
PRESS RELEASE
May 9, 2022
Europe Day, May 9, 2022: Meaningful films go around the world
With the new EU Youth Cinema: Green Deal, co-financed by the European Union and initiated by LET'S CEE Filmfestival, outstanding European films on topics such as sustainability, climate protection, and social responsibility will be presented in the next two years to the youth. A range of multimedia content and selected films will be offered free of charge also to the general audience worldwide. The first films will be available from Europe Day, May 9th.
Climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to the European Union and the world. With remarkable films, expert talks, and a sophisticated didactic concept, the organizers of the EU Youth Cinema: Green Deal want to make young people enthusiastic about achieving the goals of the EU Green Deal.
25 European films to inspire a more sustainable way of life
Launching in the European Year of Youth 2022 and with an anticipated total duration of 24 months, Youth Cinema: Green Deal offers a continuous program with a strong multicultural approach and a clear focus on informing and educating on the green agenda. The project brings attention to ecological challenges and promotes awareness of a more sustainable lifestyle. The green film collection with at least 25 European productions will be presented in Cineplexx cinemas in 20 European cities in Austria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia, as well as on a streaming platform from May 2022.
Strong sign of solidarity on May 9
Thanks to the support of the Representation of the European Commission in Austria, the Ukrainian short PRYCHYNNA. THE STORY OF LOVE was included into the EU Youth Cinema program as a sign of solidarity. Starting from Europe Day May 9th, the film will be available free of charge worldwide to anybody who is interested via www.euyc.green until May 31th.
According to the director Andriy Shcherbak, the context of the animated ballad about a couple in love, doomed to separation, madness and death because of the war, has changed since the Russian invasion into Ukraine: “Viewers who have seen photos from the city of Irpen, Bucha or Mariupol will perceive this film differently. The causal illusions and terrible assumptions have turned into objective reality. The war, the violence, the death – all this happens here and now.” The viewers are encouraged to make a donation to the project DOCU/HELP. The raised money will help to tell the world about Russia’s crimes in Ukraine, support the filmmakers documenting the war and continue to introduce the world to contemporary Ukrainian culture. More information is available at: https://docudays.ua/eng/help.
545 days. And then a lifetime. A film against forgetting.
Another film dedicated to the topic of war and remembrance tells the story of Stanisław Zalewski and his long struggle for a dignified memorial to the former Gusen concentration camp in Upper Austria.
Stanisław Zalewski, who experienced the outbreak of the Second World War as a 14-year-old, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and sent first to the notorious Pawiak prison, then to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, from there to the Mauthausen concentration camp and finally to the Gusen concentration camp. Today, as 96 years old, he still visits schools and memorial sites as a contemporary witness to educate young people about the crimes committed in Nazi concentration camps and to campaign against any kind of discrimination.
The film, supported by the Polish Institute in Vienna and the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria, was produced by LET’S CEE Filmfestival and premiered on May 5th on the anniversary of the liberation of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex.
The documentary is freely accessible to the international audience via streaming platform at: www.euyc.green.
We wish good projections.
LET’S CEE you soon again.
Information:
Magdalena Zelasko
LET’S CEE Filmfestival
pr@letsceefilmfestival.com
