"Lights, camera, action!" — An important film event has begun in Tashkent

"Lights, camera, action!" — An important film event has kicked off in Tashkent

The grand opening ceremony of the 11th European Film Festival was held at the National Cinema Arts Palace of Uzbekistan. This year, the film event will be organized in the cities of Tashkent and Urgench.

The festival opened with the animated film "A Boat in the Garden" (Slocum et moi), co-produced by France and Luxembourg in 2024. This animated feature was named best at the Cartoons on the Bay festival and won the Pulcinella Award (Pulcinella Awards).

"The European Film Festival is an opportunity to discover Europe through stories that reflect the diversity of our cultures and universal human values. This year we are also holding the film festival in the city of Urgench. Expanding the geography of the film event beyond Tashkent has become a good tradition that serves to strengthen cultural exchange in the regions of Uzbekistan,"

said Toivo Klaar, European Union Ambassador to Uzbekistan, at a press conference dedicated to the festival's opening.

"The European Film Festival gives Uzbek audiences an opportunity to get closely acquainted with the unique artistic approaches of European cinema, the lives, values, and spiritual world of various peoples. Through the art of cinema, mutual understanding and friendship between peoples are strengthened, creating a foundation for new creative ideas and international cooperation projects. Today, Uzbekistan is consistently developing cooperation with European countries in the field of cinematography. Creating joint films, exchanging experience, and promoting our national film works on the international stage are important directions of this cooperation,"

said Matyoqub Matchonov, Chairman of the Creative Union of Filmmakers of Uzbekistan.

As part of the festival program, films will be screened on October 23-25 at the National Cinema Arts Palace in Tashkent (formerly "Panorama") and on October 27 at the Khudoibergen Devanov Cinema in Urgench.

Embassies of Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, and Slovenia presented selected films for the film festival. Most of them are winners of national and international film awards.

All screenings are free, and films will be shown in their original language with Uzbek or Russian subtitles.

The festival has been organized annually since 2013 by the Delegation of the European Union to Uzbekistan together with the embassies of European countries in our country, with the support of the Cinematography Agency under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In particular, last year 12 selected films from 12 European countries were also screened.