The evening of Friday, November 14, 2008, saw the official opening ceremony of the 6th European Film Week.

Attended by invited guests and members of the diplomatic community, the event took place at the Cinema Asmara.

After a brief note of welcome by Mr. Pierre Coulont, the French Ambassador to Eritrea, who declared the film week open, Ms. Paola Amadei, the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission, delivered a statement befitting the occasion.

Later Houman Samadi, Cultural Attaché at the French Embassy in Asmara, presented a brief summary of the movie prepared for the evening.

He started with “Kemey amsikum (Good evening),” and ended with “Film ktfetwiwo tesfa ygebr (I hope you will like the film)” All carefully spoken Tigrigna words, but which nonetheless earned him loud applause by the audience.

The feature film that was selected to mark the opening of the week long film festival was Vatel, a French movie featuring well-known actors Gerard Depardieu and Uma Thurman among others.

Based on a true story of France's first celebrity chef, the film narrates the life of 17th century Chef François Vatel. He was the son of a farmer but rose to be the ‘maitre de plaisirs’ (master of pleasures), supervising kitchens of the Prince of Condé at Chantilly. He was reportedly an excellent creator of new dishes and was sought after because of his tremendous skills to put on great displays of food.

When the prince invites King Louis XIV and his entourage to the castle, Vatel is put in charge of preparing a feast fitting for royalty, in spite of the Prince’s scarce financial resources.

But Vatel, being the culinary genius that he is, resolves each problem threatening to upset the celebrations or for that matter his big chance for fame. The only thing that takes him off-guard was the beautiful Anne de Montausier, which was the center of the romantic aspect of the movie. Sought by both the king and his aide, Anne favors Vatel, recognizing the honesty and confidence in him.

But during the last morning of the king’s visit, Vatel learned that of the consignment of fish that was expected, only a few baskets had arrived. Distraught by the happening, he went to his room, wrote an apology note apologizing to Anne and stabbed himself to death. The tragic part is that the rest of the fish came shortly after his body was discovered.

The movie, apart from its entertaining feature, also gives viewers a peek at what European lifestyle used to be in earlier centuries.

The film industry has always been one of the best ways of introducing one’s culture to foreign audiences. The film week is thus a good opportunity to acquaint Eritreans with the culture and traditions of Europe.

This year’s film week boasts of 22 films shows in Cinema Roma and Cinema Hamassien contemporaneously. And as promised in yester years, the film festival this year will travel to three other Eritrean cities, namely Keren, Massawa and Dekemhare in an attempt to reach a broader audience.

“We also hope that the Film Festival can be extended to even more towns of Eritrea in the following years,” she said.

Ambassador Paola then pointed out the new features of this year’s film festival.

“This year you will also have the opportunity to see films from African countries, namely Ghana and South Africa,” she noted and explained that the European Commission finances projects in Africa as a part of its policy to support local cultural initiatives.

She also announced that there would be one film from Romania, one of the new member states which joined the European Union last year.

Participating in the festival are the Embassies of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the Alliance Française and the British Council.

The European Film Week, which will offer film shows with free admission tickets, will accommodate guests until Sunday November 23, 2008 before going off to the other cities.