Launched back in 1998, the European Union Film Festival has grown into one of the city’s very best cinematic events, the only serious rival in size and quality to the venerable Chicago International Film Festival. This year, through April 3, Gene Siskel Film Festival presents 64 new features from EU member nations, including Chicago premieres of new work by Daniel Auteuil (Fanny, Marius), Francois Ozon (Young & Beautiful), Paul Verhoeven (Tricked), Lukas Moodysson (We Are the Best!), Michael Winterbottom (Everyday, The Trip to Italy), John Akomfrah (The Stuart Hall Project), and Mika Kaurismäki (Road North). We’re lucky if we can cover a third of the films screening, but as you can see below, we thought five of the six features covered this week were worth recommending. That ought to speak for itself. —J.R. Jones
A Spell to Ward Off Darkness Two distinctive avant-garde filmmakers, Ben Rivers of the UK (Two Years at Sea) and and Ben Russell of the U.S. (Let Each One Go Where He May), collaborated on this three-part documentary-cum-mood piece, sharing credit for direction, cinematography, and editing. Russell’s sensibility dominates: the first section shows the influence of early ethnographic films in its inquisitive view of communal living in the Estonian woods, and the third, which shows an avant-garde metal band performing in Oslo, reflects his enthusiasm for experimental rock. Rivers’s presence can be felt most strongly in the second section, in which Chicago musician Robert Lowe embarks on a solo camping expedition in a remote part of Finland. Credit both filmmakers for the hypnotic vibe and stunning 16-millimeter photography; the camera often suggests a ghostly presence, moving with uncanny smoothness through scenes of undisrupted intimacy and natural splendor. —Ben Sachs 95 min. Sat 3/8, 9:15 PM, and Thu 3/13, 6 PM.
3/7-4/3, various times Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State 312-846-2800 Tickets are $11, $7 for students, and $6 for Film Center members For more information and a full schedule visit siskelfilmcenter.org
