2018 Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

The odyssey continues. Next stop – Bulgaria

We went home and scoured our mothers’, aunts’ and neighbours’ memories for what would make a good Bulgarian food staple to introduce to you. We are happy to announce that this month’s featured delicacy is … drum roll … the Bulgarian banitsa – a coil of traditional cheese and yogurt pastry.

The banitsa you can taste at our next screening on 19 May will be prepared with love by Lars Caterers (who have been so very supportive of our experimentation); they are making individual twisted cheese pies with filo pastry, topped with yogurt and parsley.

The accompanying film is Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service, a revealing documentary about how Bulgaria has dealt (or not dealt) with secret security files post-communism.

So come and eat some banitsa with us, watch a film, break some barriers. Saturday 19 May from 5pm at Loop Project and Space Bar. Book your ticket now.

UNCLE TONY, THREE FOOLS AND THE SECRET SERVICE – MAY 19TH

BULGARIA 2013
Documentary 1'27 min 

Director: Mina Mileva & Vesela Kazakova

Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service is a feature documentary debut for Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, made without state funding for production and dedicated to Mina’s animation teacher and outstanding animator Antony Trayanov/Uncle Tony.

The film became a mirror for a post-communist society that hasn’t dealt with the role of the totalitarian Secret Service in recent history – a role that commands daily life till nowadays and creates a complex political problem. Bulgaria hasn’t had a proper lustration process and the dossiers are still closed allowing many former agents and informers to take high political positions.

The authors of the film, subjected to threats and intimidation, were also attacked within their own Film Guild. Official letters were exchanged by the main institutions with the aim to prevent distribution. The Ministry of Culture, FILMAUTOR, CEM (the Council for Electronic Media), the Bulgarian National Television, the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers and the tax authorities each responded with their own position and contacted the production company Activist 38 for relevant inspections. The copyright society FILMAUTOR illegitimately revoked the contract with Activist 38 and as result the Bulgarian National Television refused to air the film.
This campaign was triggered also by the fact that the film was seen as defaming several prominent directors from the past amongst whom the legendary Donio Donev. Donev, a brilliant animation director, whom Uncle Tony worked alongside with, is perhaps the best known name of Bulgarian cinema. He was also an informer for the Secret Service.

The controversy caused by the film was covered by the main media of the country and some international editions too. The European organisations EDN (European Documentary Network), EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and Cineuropa published support articles. An intellectual group at home created a Facebook page in support of the film entitled: Please sign in support of freedom of speech, expression and thinking in Bulgaria.

Despite attempts to discontinue screening the film, it was shown in the cinemas in Sofia for several months, which marks an unprecedented longevity for a homegrown documentary film.

Book tickets for this screening.

Screening at Loop Project Space & Bar, 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne

Soft tasty kolache, Czech beer and a black comedy

No cultural immersion is complete without some traditional food. To make the Czech experience more wholesome, we went on a search to find the right culinary match for The Teacher, the Czech film we are screening this Saturday. And guess what? We found the only place in the whole of Melbourne that makes kolache – the traditional Czech soft bun. Kolache Cravings from Melbourne’s North were thrilled to come on board and help us feed you.

If you haven’t heard of kolache before, don’t wait any longer to try them. We did, and could barely stop at one. Phil and Nona use only the best and free-rangest eggs and meats to make them, and a traditional artisanal method to ensure the bun stays soft and dreamy, while still low on sugar.

On the menu this Saturday we have:

kranski and cheese kolache
plum poppy seed and cream cheese kolache
an entertaining Czech dark comedy, The Teacher.

If you get thirsty, the Loop Bar serves Czech beer and special cocktails for only $12 for our guests. What’s there to decide? Book your tickets for this screening and join us this Saturday at the Loop Bar in Meyers Place.

The Teacher – April 28th

CZECH REPUBLIC 2016
Comedy 1'42 min 

Director: Jan Hřebejk
Cast: Zuzana Mauréry, Peter Bebjak, Zuzana Konecná

“From Oscar-nominated writer/director Jan Hřebejk (Divided We Fall), THE TEACHER is a wildly entertaining black comedy inspired by the true story of a Communist-era school teacher who manipulated her pupils and their families for unprecedented personal gain.

The early 1980s, Czechoslovakia. At the start of a new term at a suburban high school, a seemingly empathetic and kind new teacher, the middle-aged Maria Drazděchová greets her class. She asks them to introduce themselves and share what their parents do for a living, explaining that it’s important to know how their parents might collectively help the group. Soon after, she gradually begins to pressure both students and parents by seeking favours – grocery collection, handyman assistance, lifts and haircuts – and connecting them with special treatment in class and, most significantly, good grades.

Before long Maria’s demands grow more complex and dangerous, so when a serious incident finally draws her unscrupulous behaviour to her colleagues, the principal calls a secret meeting, seeking parents to sign a petition to move “Comrade Drazděchová” on from the school. But her high connections with the Communist Party hang above everyone in the room, and it’s soon evident that standing up for what’s right may be much easier said than done.

With production design and cinematography that recreates the era to wonderful effect, THE TEACHER delivers a timeless and universal story of opportunism, bias and human dignity. Laced with wicked humour and standout performances, this rousing morality tale employs a delicate touch to skewer not only the complications of communism, but the human characteristics that ensure it never quite works out as expected.” (Palace Films)

Book tickets for this screening.

Screening at Loop Project Space & Bar, 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne

Proud to belong with Euraw Stories

Every March the most multicultural city in Australia celebrates its diversity with Multicultural Diversity Week and we are joining in again, this year with a screening of The Citizen.

The festival theme for 2018, proud to belong, acknowledges that belonging is an achievement that has its challenges for newly arrived people and encourages sharing and embracing everyone’s cultural heritage.

We chose The Citizen because Wilson, the main character, is the perfect person to take you behind the scenes on the journey of a refugee trying to make a new home for himself. After losing his whole family to war in Guinea-Bissau, Wilson hopes to become a model Hungarian citizen. The film follows the trials, failures and successes in his journey.

Wilson is played by amateur actor Dr Marcelo Cake-Baly, whose story mirrors that of Wilson. Cake-Baly himself became a Hungarian citizen in 1995, after arriving in Hungary in 1976.

There is painful honesty, sorrow, but also humour, romanticism and sensibility in The Citizen. Join us for the screening at 5pm on Saturday 17 March in the ever stylish Loop Project Space & Bar.

Browse the Diversity Week program.

The Citizen – March the 17th

HUNGARY 2017
Drama 1'49min

Director: Roland Vranik
Cast: Marcelo Cake-Baly, Agnes Mahr, Arghavan Shekari

Award-winning Hungarian director Roland Vranik’s third feature film considers the many nuances of integration through the means of an unorthodox love story. The Citizen follows Wilson, who, after losing his entire family to the horrors of war and making the perilous journey to Europe as a political refugee, settles for a sedate life as a security guard in a Budapest shopping center. However, Wilson is driven by a quest: to become a model Hungarian citizen and to do so at any cost.
The Citizen poignantly dwells on some of the most complex issues of modern society. With Spartan use of technology, a naturalistic and pared-down mise-en-scene and by employing mostly unprofessional actors, director Roland Vranik emphasizes the complexity of human emotion and lets the universal vulnerability of the heart mirror the equally universal vulnerability of humanity.

Book tickets for this screening.

Screening at Loop Project Space & Bar, 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne

Borscht and Movie

Dear movie lovers, you guessed it, during the first screening you’ll be able to taste the best borscht in Melbourne, cooked by our very good friends at LARS Caterers.

Borscht (or borsch, borshch, borsht, borș, bortsch, barszcz, борщ, באָרשט‎, etc) is a very popular soup throughout Central and Eastern Europe as well as The Balkans, with many recipe variations between the cultures. The dish most of the world associates with borscht is a beetroot based sour soup with a distinctive red colour.

The LARS Caterers team have created for us the most sublime Romanian beetroot borscht, served cold, with dill paste and optional crème fraîche. It’s gluten free, vegan and better still, free with your movie ticket!

And should you need a sophisticated Eastern European inspired cocktail in your hand for the maximum cinema experience, our colleagues at Loop Project Space & Bar have designed one just for Euraw at a session price of only $12.

So, Romanian Borscht, $12 cocktails and The Treasure, this Saturday the 17th of February, with doors opening at around 5pm and the movie starting at 6pm.

Book tickets for this screening

Screening at Loop Project Space & Bar, 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne

The Treasure – February the 17th

ROMANIA 2015
Comedy 1'29 min 

Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Cast: Toma Cuzin, Adrian Purcarescu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02G_ANFp8Pg

A hunt for a buried treasure sends two men on a surprising comic caper in this Cannes prize-winning charmer from acclaimed director Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective; 12:08 East of Bucharest). Costi (Cuzin Toma) is a workaday family man whose cash-strapped next-door neighbour (Adrian Purcarescu) makes him an intriguing proposition: help him find the fortune reportedly buried somewhere on the grounds of his family’s country home and split the profits. But as the two men dig, they unearth more than they bargained for. Part modern day fable, part profound social commentary, The Treasure confirms Porumboiu’s status (previously seen at Euraw Stories in 2016 with East of Bucharest) as “one of our great contemporary observers of the human comedy” (Variety).

Individual tickets are available. Book tickets for this screening.

Screening at Loop Project Space & Bar, 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne

March>

New Team Members

Thank you all for turning up to last week’s AGM. We’re absolutely thrilled that Euraw team is growing and new members are jumping at the opportunity to get involved.

Thank you for all your help as Treasurer in 2017 Dora Ilov, and all the best with your new job. We’ll see you at our screenings anyway. Announcing with this occasion our new Treasurer extraordinaire, Ana-Maria Trailescu, member for the last year and now on Euraw Inc’s Board of directors.

We’re also very happy to welcome on our team two Euraw Stories members, Zoran Vasic and Tom Danby, who offered their support with project coordination. We’re looking forward to your input and creative ideas for 2018!

There’s always room for more on our friendly team. We’ve got a great new home that’s giving us the freedom to introduce more items into our schedule. We’d love some help with catering, guests programming and fund raising. Don’t be shy, come to chat to us at our screenings or drop us a line.

Contact stories@euraw.com.au