European Literature Days
The
exuberant 10th anniversary of a small European literary festival held in the
Wachau region of Austria throws into sharp relief the cultural poverty we potentially
face post-Brexit. European
Literature Days frequently punches above its weight, luring
prominent international writers to participate in workshops and panel discussions
over a long weekend.
The
theme this year was film, literature and literary adaptation. Outside the major
film festivals, I can think of few places where you would find the wonderfully
eclectic, inspired pairing of international screenwriters such as Olivia
Hetreed (who adapted Wuthering
Heights and Girl with a Pearl Earring)
and Austrian Kathrin Resetarits who wrote and directed Licht. While Romanian screenwriter Razvan Radulescu, who
co-scripted The Death of Mr Lazarescu
(2005) and Tuesday, After Christmas (2010),
was paired with illustrious German novelist Katharina Hacker.
Her 2006 novel The Have Nots was
awarded the German Book Prize and was made into a film, directed by Florian
Hoffmeister in 2016.
Perhaps
the most memorable discussion was between Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildiko
Enyedi and Bosnian director and screenwriter Jasmila
Zbanic. Both filmmakers are highly original in the way they explore
the human psyche and the crossing of borders. Enyedi’s latest film, On Body and Soul won The Golden Bear at
the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and was widely praised
in the UK while Zbanic’s hard-hitting feature film, Esma’s Secret, won the Golden Bear in 2006. Enyedi talked about the
importance of location in her films. On
Body and Soul is set in an abattoir, an inhumane workplace where a fragile
love affair blossoms. Two workers from the slaughterhouse meet in their dreams as
deer and fall in love which, Enyedi claims, is an act of self-preservation in a
cruel world. Location is also important in Zbanic’s 2014 comedy Love Island. In a holiday resort on a
Croatian island, characters step out of themselves, boundaries blur and
anything seems possible. A pregnant French woman, her Bosnian husband and a Romanian
seductress form an unexpected love triangle. Zbanic bravely tackles LGBT issues,
a sensitive subject in her native Bosnia. The biggest challenge in attracting
funding and distribution for her films, Zbanic claims, is not her gender or
provocative subject matter, but that she is from a small country in Eastern
Europe.
Zbanic
is unlikely to make it to the UK in the near future, either for a screening or
to discuss her film work, because the UK government is making it increasingly
hard (or prohibitively expensive) for international artists, writers and filmmakers
to participate in cultural exchange. This was evident at this year’s Edinburgh
International Book Festival where various writers were initially denied visas.
According to the festival director, Nick Barley, a dozen invitees, from the Middle
East and Africa and one author from Belarus, found it hard obtain a visa. They were
asked to provide three years’ worth of bank statements to demonstrate financial
independence, despite the fact that the festival was paying them for their
talks and guaranteeing to cover their costs while in the UK. These particular
writers had their applications refused at least once.
It’s
a shame that the Home Office has created such a hostile environment as we will
all be the poorer if we don’t make international speakers feel welcome here.
The diversity of the writers that come to European Literature Days every year
is exhilarating and the discussions are always refreshing. International film
and literature enable us to appreciate different worlds and cultures, a
plurality of opinion helps to expand our minds. Now, more than ever, we need to
keep these windows of understanding and opportunity open and continue to enrich
our cultural knowledge.
Originally published by Book Blast