ON THE BEATEN PATH

Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) stays faithful to the tradition of side events that are promising to trigger not only the activity of your brain cells but also the sensitivity of your taste buds. Or the other way around.

First thing’s first so make sure you’ll join weekend brunch with Rusudan Chkonia (Keep smiling), Jasmila Žbanić (For those who can tell no tales), Filip Remunda (Free Smetana), Želimir Žilnik (Early works) and Ivan Ikić (Barbarians) on 8 and 9 November 2014, at 11am at Filmhuis. In between the bites and while enjoying your second cup of coffee, you get the opportunity to have an informal conversation with the ENFF directors coming from Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic and Serbia, discussing their countries’ best and worst practices.

You should be finished by 2pm to enter the festival’s debate Is power deaf to us? on the institutional, social and cultural changes and continuities of the former communist Eastern European societies. Protests against the totalitarian regimes taking place in Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, in the last 25 years, since the fall of the Berlin wall, will take an important part in the discussions. Six experts – journalists, philosophers and filmmakers discuss shift in power and the influence of arts, cinema in particular, on the social change.

It’s already 4pm which means it’s time for tea or wine. There is a selection of Georgian (Saturday), Croatian and Macedonian (Sunday) wines for you to experience, free of charge, of course. Did you know Georgia is one of the oldest wine producing countries in the world? And do you know what is “kvevri“? Do the words Plavac mali, Kratosija or Vranec mean anything to you? Just come and next time you will know what I am talking about.

Relax in between the movies and pick a unique piece of clothing at the Fashion Corner. Meet your own festival tailors: M!DS Citoyenne K Hanna maakt and Liekebieke.

Filmhuis Den Haag, Spui 191, Thursday 6 November until Sunday 9 November. From Dusk til Dawn.