European Union in Calgary Film Series
See a free screening at the Calgary Public Library Central Branch, one Monday each month. This series is made possible by the Delegation of the European Union to Canada in partnership with the European Cultural Society of Calgary.
GODS OF MOLENBEEK (2019, Belgium / Finland / Germany)
Monday, April 3 at 6:30pm
Calgary Public Library Central Branch
1h13m
6-year-old Aatos and his friends search for the essence of life in a world that is increasingly under threat. In the Molenbeek district of Brussels, the jihadi capital to some, is the familiar home to 6 year-old boys Aatos and Amine. This is where they listen to spiders, discover black holes and quarrel over who gets to command the flying carpet that is to take them to the lands of their ancestors. They live in the same building, yet come from different worlds. Together they search for answers to the big questions. Aatos wants a god of his own, as Amine already has Allah but the question is complicated by his friend Flo’s belief that people who believe in God have gone crazy. The threat of the adult world suddenly interrupts the children’s play as terrorist bombs explode in a metro station nearby. The streets are filled with tanks, armed soldiers, and policemen. Bedtime stories now evoke images of violence and even friendship is put on trial until an expected twist reshapes their lives for good.
EXTRACURRICULAR (2019, Croatia)
Monday, May 1 at 6:30pm
Calgary Public Library Central Branch
1h41m
A recently divorced father is told he can’t see his nine-year-old daughter on her birthday, so he holds her classroom hostage with a gun and a birthday cake. Ivan-Goran Vitez’s third feature is a tense hostage thriller with sharp political commentary built in. A socially charged genre piece set around a hostage crisis in a school, the film also opens an array of social issues relevant to contemporary Croatia.
SISTERS APART (2020, Germany / Greece)
Monday, June 5 at 6:30pm
Calgary Public Library Central Branch
1h33m
Rojda, a German soldier and native Kurd, volunteers for a mission to train female Kurdish soldiers in Iraq to fight ISIS. No one must know that she is actually looking for her missing sister.
2022-23 Series Screening Dates
September 12 – MY THOUGHTS ARE SILENT (2019, Ukraine)
October 24 – ROMY’S SALON (2019, Netherlands)
November 28 – THE LITTLE COMRADE (2018, Estonia)
December 12 – OSKAR & LILI – WHERE NO ONE KNOWS US (2020, Austria)
January 9 – AURORA (2019, Finland)
February 6 – MY BROTHER CHASES DINOSAURS (2019, Italy)
March 6 – INVISIBLE (2019, Lithuania)
April 3 – GODS OF MOLEMBEEK (2019, Belgium / Germany)
May 1 – EXTRACURRICULAR (2019, Croatia)
June 5 – SISTERS APART (2020, Germany / Greece)
