Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The 12th European Film Festival kicked off at the residence of the German consul general at the weekend with the screening of a German movie.

The festival has the support of the delegation of the European Union in Saudi Arabia.

The festival will have screening of all the films in their original languages with English subtitles, to increase the exchange of knowledge, culture and language, also to showcase cultural meeting.

The festival will continue till Feb. 25,showcasing a variety of European movies from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Ireland, Hungary and Norway.

German Consul General Holger Ziegeler emphasized: "Modern Europe is formed by a wonderful group of partner countries that share values and join forces in economic development, while at the same time displaying a colorful richness of cultural diversity. This is what makes Europe and the European Union unique in the world."

Ziegeler added: “The European Union is an extreme success story, both in political and economic terms, but the real secret behind Europe is the cultural wealth, that we show and cultivate. The idea from the European Union film festival is to show this wealth to the Saudi public in order to give them the old feeling of the stories that were told, from wise men to the young people listening, nowadays it's the movie theaters. In Europe you can see movie theaters from all possible stories of human life.”

Palestinian Consul General Mahmoud Al-Assadi, one of those who attended the event, noted: “These film festivals are a communication between nations and a showcase of real-life happenings. I think it is a process to gather nations and discover customs and traditions and convergence of views”.

About the return of cinema to Saudi Arabia, Al-Assadi said: “I think cinema would be a positive gate for the Saudi community into the culture.”