19th Troia International Film Festival 2003

Report by Ron Holloway

Actually, the festival is a misnomer. This event should be titled the "Setubal" International Film Festival - after the picturesque fishing harbor where it really takes place - instead of being named for "Troia," the peninsula resort site across the way with its sandy beaches facing the Atlantic Ocean. But shortly after it had been founded nearly two decades ago, Mario Ventura (president) and Fernanda Silva (director) soon discovered that "sun tourists" were not all that interested in attending movies, while "film fans" in nearby Lisbon (now only a half-hour drive over a newly constructed bridge) were more than willing to drive down the coast to see a broad range of quality world cinema with Portuguese subtitles beamed onto the screen. To say nothing of a dozen critics, scouts, and cineastes who pilgrimage faithfully to Setubal simply to enjoy each other’s and the festival’s company.

This year, the 19th Troia International Film Festival (TIFF), scheduled immediately after Cannes (6-15 June 2003), programmed 120 films in the two venues donated by the city and run by the festival as year-around art houses. The competition, open to filmlands that produce up to 25 feature films a year, screened a half-dozen award winners and critical favorites seen at previous European film festivals: Alexander Rogozhkin’s Cuckoo (Russia), Lone Scherfig’s Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (Denmark), Hany Abu-Assad’s Rana’s Wedding (Palestine), Alice Mellis’s Some Secrets (Czech Republic), Damjan Kozole’s Spare Parts (Slovenia), and Zdenek Tyc’s Brats (Czech Republic). The International Jury awarded the Golden Dolphin to Carlos Sorin’s Historias Minimas (Minimal Stories) (Argentina), a subtly interwoven collection of stories set on the flat, sprawling plains somewhere out in the provinces and strikingly photographed by ace cameraman Hugo Colace.

Oft described as a kingpin among the so-called "B" film festivals, Troia offers its public ten sections to pick from. Some European festivaliers confessed that they travel here annually to see as many of the films in the sidebars as possible. And, indeed, the range is remarkable: First Works (Debut Features), Man and Nature (with its own competition and jury), Fassbinder Awards Nominees (European Discoveries), Swiss Retrospective, Short Films from Wales, French Shorts, Student Works at Catalunha Film School, New Portuguese Cinema, and a Panorama that catches whatever else might be of interest from archives and production centers.

A personal recommendation. If you haven’t yet seen Gyorgy Palfi’s Hukkle (Hiccups) (Hungary), by all means seek out this amusing tale of mysterious deaths in a quaint Hungarian town far off the beaten path. And once you think you have figured out the crime puzzle towards the end of this non-dialogue feature, then go back and see it again to enjoy the clues offered - and overlooked - at the beginning. A little masterpiece!