Eurocinema Starts This Week

Indie film lovers know that only a few such titles make it to Hawaii theaters. But Euro-Cinema Hawaii 2014 Film Festival strives to change that.

“EuroCinema came out of a desire to create more of a cultural exchange between Hawaii and the continent,” explains EuroCinema founding board member Chris Lee. “There’s probably no better way to know culture, aside from visiting that place, than through film.”

What follows is the first of a two-part preview of EuroCinema’s 11 offerings. All films screen at Dole Cannery Theatre, with $12 tickets. Visit eurocinemahawaii.org.

A YEAR IN CHAMPAGNE

“The title says all you need to know,” Lee muses of the second in a trilogy of wine documentaries. “It’s a wonderful piece about that region of France and everyone’s favorite sparkling wine.” (8:30 p.m. Oct. 30)

BELOVED SISTERS

This period film examines the ménage a trois that may have existed between writer Friedrich Schiller, his wife and his sister-in-law. Lee notes that this film is Germany’s entry in the Oscar foreign-language film category. (6:30 p.m. Oct. 31 and 11 a.m. Nov. 1)

CLOUDS OF SILS-MARIA

An aging auteur actress (Juliette Binoche) shares the stage with a rising starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz), but Kristen Stewart steals the show in this buzzy Cannes film. Lee describes it as “kind of a version of All About Eve set in France.” (8:30 p.m. Nov. 3 and 3:30 p.m. Nov. 4)

THE BLUE ROOM

This French thriller is part torrid affair-gone-bad, part did-heor-didn’t-he murder caper, all washed over with a blue-tinted ambiguity from Mathieu Amalric of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. (9:30 p.m. Nov. 1 and 2 p.m. Nov. 9)

IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE

The bloodiest revenge quests all seem to come out of Scandinavia (remember Lisbeth Salander?). Stellan Skarsgaard is the father-turned-killer in this Norwegian dark comedy. (8 p.m. Nov. 2 and 8:15 p.m. Nov. 5)

MARRIAGE, ITALIAN STYLE

“Every year we do a restored classic,” Lee explains. This year, it’s Marriage Italian Style, a 1964 Italian flick about a prostitute who gets the better of her businessman lover. Dr. Barry Sabath leads a film discussion after the screening. (4 p.m. Nov. 2)