european women directors stand out at sydney's digital edition

In its fifth year of cooperation between European Film Promotion (EFP) and Sydney Film Festival (SFF), the programme of EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM has been given a special focus at this year's reduced digital festival edition. Ten selected European films and their outstanding women directors will be presented alongside otherwise exclusively Australian works at the 67th Sydney Film Festival: Virtual Edition and Awards from 10 to 21 June, 2020.

"We are thrilled that we will become an even more visible part of SFF in this challenging festival year. Our thanks go to SFF's festival director Nashen Moodley for giving us such great exposure within the programme as well as the final selection of films. This year's EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM casts strong curatorial and thematic light on multiple gender issues and preconceptions in Europe. We are also grateful to the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and our member organisations, the national promotion institutes, who have made the programme possible", says EFP's Managing Director Sonja Heinen.

The selected films are: A Perfectly Normal Family by Malou Reymann (Denmark), A Year Full of Drama by Marta Pulk (Estonia, documentary), Charter by Amanda Kernell (Sweden, Denmark, Norway), Force of Habit by Kirsikka Saari, Elli Toivoniemi, Anna Paavilainen, Alli Haapasalo, Reetta Aalto, Jenni Toivoniemi and Miia Tervo (Finland), Kids Run by Barbara Ott (Germany), Lessons of Love by Malgorzata Goliszewska and Kasia Mateja (Poland, documentary), My Little Sister by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond (Switzerland), Sea Fever by Neasa Hardiman (Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, UK), They Call Me Babu by Sandra Beerends (The Netherlands, documentary) and Zana by Antoneta Kastrati (Kosovo*, Albania).

"Although we are unable to host Sydney Film Festival in cinemas this year, we are delighted to continue our partnership with European Film Promotion in co-presenting EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM at the 67th Sydney Film Festival: Virtual Edition and Awards. We are excited to bring to the Australian audience ten vital new works by European women directors, and while we are, of course, sad that we cannot host these directors in Sydney as usual, we look forward to presenting them, and their wonderful films, virtually", says SFF Director Nashen Moodley.

The national film promotion institutes supporting this year's edition of EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM are: Danish Film Institute, Estonian Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, German Films, Kosova Cinematography Center, Polish Film Institute, Screen Ireland, SEE NL (The Netherlands), Swedish Film Institute and Swiss Films.

EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM is supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and Eurimages and presented for the first time in cooperation with European Women's Audiovisual Network (EWA) and Festival Scope. The media partners are Screen International, Fade to Her and Fred Film Radio.

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ABOUT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

Sydney Film Festival is a major event on the New South Wales cultural calendar and is one of the world's longest-running film festivals. Sydney Film Festival is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, the Federal Government through Screen Australia and the City of Sydney.