Review of the year: Europe’s diversity shines through its cinema | Popgen Tech

This year, Europe revealed its strengths in its diversity through its cinema. As part of Euronews’ “Review of the year series”, we look back at some of the movies that caught our eye and grabbed our attention.

Triangle of sadness

One of the outstanding movies that dominated the European film landscape was Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of sadness. Collecting both the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and this year’s European Film Awards (EFA) top prize, Östlund added to his EFA tally – after scooping the award in 2017 for The Square.

The film tells the story of a luxury cruz that turns into a shipwreck. In typical form, Östlund savage satire peaks behind the curtain (and pokes fun at) the über-rich.

It also picked up three other awards at the EFA in Reykjavík – European director, screenwriter and male actor (Croatian-Danish Zlatko Buric).

El Buen Patron

On the same night, the European Award for Best Comedy went to Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa for El Buen Patrón (or The Good Boss). Spanish actor Javier Bardem plays a factory boss and husband – who deals with problems faced by his employees while making his own.

Alcarras

Also nominated for best film in Reykjavík was Alcarras by Catalan director Carla Simón. Although it didn’t take home the top prize, it did manage to snag the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Simón’s film deals with issues of male dominance and patriarchy.

“With Alcarras we’ve been thinking a lot about the issue of gender roles, because of course it seems like we’re in this moment now where stories with women have to be about feminist, empowered women. But there are places where it hasn’t come yet. And this is the case of certain rural communities, where the patriarchal system, let’s say, is still very much present, where this toxic masculinity still exists,” says Simón.

Piccolo Corpo

The European Discovery Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, was chosen by film critics and the European Film Academy this year Piccolo Corpo by Italian director Laura Samani.

The story of a young mother in Friuli at the beginning of the last century who wants to give a burial to her stillborn baby, who was condemned to limbo by the church.

Son from Heaven

Tariq Saleh Son from Heaven was priced as on a par with the 1986 The name of Rose – and tells of the power struggle between political and religious elites in Egypt.

Speaking to Euronews, the Egyptian-born Swedish director hopes his thriller can also open up new horizons

“For Europeans, to step in the shoes of a Muslim you fear, and walk around, pray, watch, hope, be afraid, and fight for your survival, I think it’s good because we have to share experience , that what we must do.”

Son from Heaven is a co-production between three Scandinavian countries, France and Morocco, and an international success – showing that European cinema now knows how to expand its borders.