All eight movies are award winners from different categories and are shown as follows: Los Otros (The Others), Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven), 3 Maymun (3 Monkeys), Il Postino (The Postman), Le Couperet (The Axe), Marcello Marcello, A New Day in Old Sana’a and Dambe- the Mali Project.

The festival, which began on April 17, screened its first movie Los Otros (The Others). The Spanish movie is Alejandro Amenabar’s 2001 box office hit, which talks about a woman (Grace) who retires with her two children to a mansion in a Spanish town toward the end of World War II. As she waits for her husband to come back from the battlefield, her children suffer a strange disease — their skin is light sensitive and cannot be exposed to direct sunlight. The children are raised independently in an atmosphere of oppressive and religious regimentation, and Grace hires a group of servants to help her. With their arrival, both comic and serious situations occur when the servants and children start breaking the rules, knowingly or unknowingly.

The second movie, Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven), was a German hit. The 2007 film, an official German entry for “Best Foreign Language Film,” won several awards. It has a powerful storyline that is penned and directed by Fati Akin. Retired widower Ali sees a solution to loneliness when he meets with sex worker Yeter. Ali proposes to the fellow Turkish native to live with him in exchange for a monthly allowance. Ali’s son Nejat, a booklover, shows his disapproval over his father’s choice. But the young German professor quickly develops fondness for Yeter, especially on discovering that much of her hard-earned money was sent home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies. Akin’s slick direction and memorable performances of its stars are among the major highlights of the movie.

The third movie, 3 Maymun (3 Monkeys), a 2008 Turkish film, was directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. A family is dislocated when small failings blow up into extravagant lies and it battles against the odds to stay together by covering up the truth. The family chooses to ignore the truth, not to see, hear or talk about it in order to avoid hardship and responsibilities that would otherwise be impossible to endure. The 2008 Nuri Gilge Ceylan movie makes the viewers wonder whether playing “Three Monkeys” invalidates the truth of the family’s existence.

The fourth movie at the festival was Il Postino (The Postman) and came from Italy. Michael Radford’s film is for anyone who has ever fallen in love... with a person, a place, and a simpler way of life. Unashamedly romantic and sentimental, yet never cloyingly so, it also has a bittersweet ending that hurts. And as if the film weren’t poignant enough, one recalls sadly as the credits roll that its star Massimo Troisi died a day after filming was completed. “I cried when I first saw it, and it remains one of my favorite films,” said a viewer from the audience. Based loosely on the brief period of Pablo Neruda’s exile in Italy for political reasons (Neruda was a Communist), “Il Postino” tells the story of Mario (Troisi), a simple village postman, and his encounter with the great Chilean poet. When Mario falls in love with local girl Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), he seeks guidance from Neruda and inspiration from his poetry. As true love blooms, so does a touching friendship between postman and poet, one that leaves its mark on Mario and his family long after Neruda returns to Chile.

Here are the upcoming movie schedule:

• Wednesday April 28: Le Couperet (The Axe) from France.

• Thursday April 29: Marcello Marcello from Switzerland.

• May 3: A New Day in Old Sana’a from Yemen and UK (a British Council’s presentation).

• May 5: Dambe —The Mali Project from Ireland.

The final movie Dambe — The Mali Project from Ireland is Bader Be Hirsi’s drama released in 2005. It will mark the conclusion of the festival on May 5. a musical journey to the heart of Africa with acclaimed Irish musicians Liam O’Maonlai (The Hothouse of Flowers) and Paddy Keenan (The Bothy Band) as they travel thousands of miles through Mali, West Africa. Along their journey they meet and collaborate with musicians ranging from Grammy award winners to nomadic herders, culminating in a unique performance in the world’s most remote music festival “Festival au desert.”

The Honorary Consulate of Spain, the consulates general of Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey, as well as the British Council and the Embassy of Ireland in Riyadh jointly organized the event.

The movies from different European countries are being shown at the festival organized by the Honorary Consulate of Spain, the consulates general of Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey, and the British Council and the Embassy of Ireland in Riyadh.