European Films

 

While French cinema reflects the experience of the country’s immigrant population with dramas that range from hard-hitting (Mathieu Kassovitz’s La haine) to sweetly dysfunctional (Abdellatif Kechiche’s L’esquive, La Graine et le mulet) and the Germans have the poignant dramas of Fatih Akin, Dutch cinema has taken the opposite route in recent years by talking to and about its immigrant population in all-inclusive blockbuster comedies. The genre also spawned several recognisable stars, including Mimoun Oaïssa and Maryam Hassouni, the Dutch Shooting Stars of 2006 and this year, respectively. The editor of european-films.net, Boyd van Hoeij, spoke with Maryam Hassouni before the premiere of Dunya & Desie at the Berlin Film Festival.

 

With its stark imagery provided by synchronised swimming (all smiles above water and ugly struggles below) and frank exploration of teenage sexuality without a parent in sight, Céline Sciamma’s Naissance des pieuvres (Water Lilies) was one of the two most talked-about French films at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the other film, Persepolis, was also a semi-autobiographical debut feature about the growing pains of female adolescence.) The editor of european-films.net, Boyd van Hoeij, sat down for an interview with the director at the Rotterdam Film Festival, where the film played ahead of its Dutch premiere in March. Naissance de pieuvres is currently also playing in the UK and the USA and will premiere in Norway on Friday.