ECU took place March 14-16 at Paris BNF

Herewith the letter from ECU Founder Scott Hillier

"It’s all happened far too quickly, but it’s only a couple of days to go before the third edition of The European Independent Film Festival kicks off. We’ll be showing 103 films that have come to us from 28 countries and it promises to be an incredible event. Not only will we be screening some of the very best indie films from around the world, we have a full schedule of workshops that cover everything from editing and directing to acting and digital distribution. We are even going to have a ‘speed dating’ workshop, as we’ve been calling it, where we will put independent musicians into a room with filmmakers who need music. A good idea, right? ‘Cause I’m always on the lookout for music for my films, and figure that I’m not the only one!
The weekend is going to kick off with a boat trip along the Seine, where the directors will meet the press on a ‘bateau mouche’ and will have the opportunity to mingle and do interviews for an hour as we travel from the Eiffel Tower up to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France where the event will be held. We will then go up to the Salle Belvedere, which is up on the 18th floor of the Bibliothèque, with an amazing view over Paris, for the press conference, a cocktail party, and a short concert by indie musicians Mélissa Laveaux and “Dinner at the Thompson’s.” Then we will head downstairs for the ‘official’ opening of the festival.

Our opening film is going to be the feature film Happy New Year – London by Turkish-born Berkun Oya. It’s a very impressive effort for his first feature, and the film grabs your attention from the very beginning, when a moment of random violence on the streets of London triggers a tense and well-acted story. The plot unfolds in London, but is strongly influenced by French and Turkish cultures. I’ll let Berkun explain: “I’m deeply excited about Happy New Year – London being chosen as the opening film,” he says. “My film deals with calamitous and desperate attempts to communicate between different nationalities and the ugly power of ignorance; as such, it raises issues of great importance for a European audience. I believe that the way ÉCU approaches independent films is dignified, sincere, and affectionate. I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Saturday will come around super quick and the screening programme gets underway at 10.00 AM on four screens. Our welcome desk crew will be busy handing out badges, signing people up to workshops and pointing people in the right direction so that they can experience the great slate of films we have to offer. These are films that have made it to the big screen despite very low, sometimes non-existent, budgets and I’m honoured to showcase this exceptional talent. There will also be a party at the “Frog and Library” bar right beside the Bibliothèque – a scene of many past (mis-)adventures in years past, so bring your party gear.

Sunday is traditionally a very busy day, sore heads notwithstanding. We will kick off early again, at 10.00 AM and the judges’ pencils will be scribbling away like crazy as we count down to the awards ceremony 10 hours later. The title of ‘The Best European Independent Film’ is at stake, and I can’t wait to see which films make it to the short list – I’m thankful that I have such great people surrounding me on the jury, because it’s going to be hard to pick just one from such an impressive selection of films.

The Sunday workshop schedule is a packed full. And at lunchtime, I’ll be gathering all of the directors into one of the workshop rooms to make a big announcement, with Guy Tucker, about a company called EUROINDIE FILM DISTRIBUTION, which I believe is going to excite them – and more importantly, give them a chance to get their films out to much bigger audiences. Nokia will give a couple of talks during the afternoon to explain to us all the future of mobile phones and how films are going to be playing a big part in that future. Boulder Creek is going to be announcing it’s new distribution methodology and will be looking to sign up filmmakers on the spot"