The Mindanao edition of Cine Europa 14 was recently staged at Liceo University in Cagayan de Oro City.

The flagship film festival of the European Union Delegation to the Philippines was started in 1998 as a gift of the EU to the Philippines in time for the Philippine Centennial—the centenary of Philippine independence. Cine Europa has now become an annual platform showcasing cutting-edge films from all over Europe.

From 11 films in 1998, this year’s Cine Europa offers 16 films from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

As the media kit provided by Mozart Pastrano, director for public affairs of Liceo de Cagayan University, puts it, the films “are a very good mix of genres—from comedy, drama to history and thriller”—showcasing the richness and diversity of Europe as a landscape of multicultural experiences: “love for country and family, migration, relationships, perseverance, struggle, hope, courage, faith and victory.”

In his welcome speech on the film festival’s opening night, Mariano M. Lerin, president of Liceo de Cagayan University, expressed his gratitude to the EU Delegation in the Philippines for having trust in the school’s vision for “total human formation.”

In Manila, the Cine Europa partner is Edsa Shangri-La; in Cebu, Ayala Center; in Mindanao, Liceo University.

Representing the EU were Richard Kunzel, director of the Goethe Institut in Manila; Monika Junker-Goldin of the Embassy of Austria; and Anne Blomen of the Embassy of Belgium.

Pastrano, known in Manila’s art circuit for his reviews and critiques, was founding officer of the Young Critics Circle, now an institution of sorts in Diliman’s intellectual landscape. He has organized young writers into a group he calls Campus Correspondents, and they were in attendance during the three-day film fest.

Cine Europa was, indeed, a treat for film-lovers.

Here’s a glimpse at the festival’s opening night at Rodelsa Hall, the state-of-the-art theater named after the founders of Liceo U., lawyer Rodolfo Neri Pelaez and wife Elsa. The university  is celebrating the founders’ birth centenaries, dubbing the season the Rodelsa Centennial.