There will be several English-language screenings, and a Q&A with renowned director Andreas Horvath
by Alexis Veenendaal
The International Film Festival Assen is celebrating its 40th year in 2020. It started as a women’s only festival, and while it still remains in part focused on national and international women in film, the organisers are now reaching out to other themes such as racism, inequality, LGBTQ and emancipation. The festival is the oldest in Europe with a focus on women behind the camera, and the only such festival in the Netherlands with this focus.
Language No Problem
The Film Festival is now also hoping to bring in more Internationals, with a few films suitable for an English-speaking audience. After the final film of the festival (Lillian, Sunday 8 March, De Nieuwe Kolk Zaal 2) which will be screened for the first time in the Netherlands, there will be a question and answer session with its Director, Austrian filmmaker Andreas Horvath, hosted in English.
For the first time ever, the organisers are offering an English page with programme information and a list of the films spoken in English or with English subtitles at the festival. “Since this is the first year we have this much information in English, it’s just small steps at first, but I hope these steps already make international visitors feel more welcome!” says Henriëtte Poelman, Artistic director and programmer of the event.
What’s Happening
The 2020 IFA program consists of about 40 feature films and documentaries, including a number of international titles and two Dutch premiers that have not yet been shown anywhere in the country: Saint Frances and Happy Ending.
The Film Festival will be running from the 6 to 8 of March, and the full program can be accessed in Dutch here, whilst the English-language offering can be found here. Tickets are available through the website.
Image: a still from ‘Lillian’, directed by Andreas Horvath, via International Film Festival Assen
