Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The 12th European Film Festival, concluded with a multinational film ‘The square’ — a Swedish-German-French-Danish movie that was screened at the residence of the French Consul General here on Sunday.

The 12th European Film Festival was conducted by the Consulates General of Germany, France and Italy in Jeddah and the Embassy of Norway, Belgium and Hungary alongside the Honorary Consulate of Ireland, with the support of the delegation of the European Union in Saudi Arabia.

The festival showcased a variety of European films in their original language, with English subtitles, to increase the exchange of language, heritage and culture. Several diplomats, distinguished dignitaries, and cinema lovers attended the movies that lasted for a whole week.

During the Norwegian film night, Norway’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Øyvind Stokke thanked the Italian Cultural Center for hosting them in Jeddah. He said that Norway is a rather small film producing country. The Norwegian language is spoken only by 5-6 million people, and therefore, added, “Our goal of screening The Wave is to make people curious and increase the knowledge about Norway and Norwegian movies as an integrated part of the European film stories. The film festival is a good opportunity to show much more of my country and Norwegian culture and to welcome more Saudis and others to travel to Norway.”

Stokke said, “Even though this film is dramatic and of the ‘disaster genre’, it also shows beautiful Norwegian nature, fjords, mountains, lakes, villages — and local heroes.”

During the conclusion of the festival the French Consul General Mostafa Mihraje said: “The European Film Festival aims to support the European cinema and innovation, this indicates that there is a united culture between European populations, despite the difficult history between them, now we have surpassed these difficulties through culture, economic and political collaborations, such as today as we are watching ‘The Square’ — a Swedish-German-French-Danish movie which proves that the European solidarity is a reality.”

Also Markus Lundgren from the Embassy of Sweden noted: “We participated in the festival to reach out both to our community here in Jeddah and the public to share Swedish and European cultures, coming together and enjoying culture.”