For the first time, the EUFF has partnered with the LUX Audience Award, an initiative of the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, and the 2026 European Award Season, highlighting the brilliance of contemporary European cinema.

Held for the first time in 2000, the EUFF has become a much-anticipated annual cultural event in Vietnam. It has established itself as a credible platform to bring new and captivating aspects of European culture to Vietnamese audiences by showcasing films that are not widely popular in local cinemas.

The over two-week-long EUFF 2025 celebrates Europe’s fascinating diversity and rich cinematic tradition, featuring 21 films from different EU member states. Through a variety of genres — from children’s films, drama, romance, thriller and comedy to documentary — the festival highlights award-winning titles that have achieved success in their home countries.

Czech drama Summer School, 2001, will open the festival in Hanoi at 8pm at the National Cinema Centre (NCC). In HCM City, it will screen at 8pm on November 23 at CineStar Cinema.

Written and directed by overseas Vietnamese self-taught filmmaker Dužan Duong, the film tells the story of a Vietnamese teenager who returns to live with his family in the Czech town of Cheb after 10 years, igniting tensions in a long-fractured household.

The narrative unfolds from multiple perspectives, exploring inner psychology, masculinity and family dynamics, particularly the relationships between father, son and brother.

Filming took place in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and also in Vietnam.

"Summer School, 2001 is a heartfelt and quietly groundbreaking portrait of a community rarely seen on screen, and director Duong brings the Vietnamese-Czech experience into the spotlight with honesty and tenderness, avoiding stereotypes while capturing both the hardship and humor of immigrant life," Prague Reporter writes.

It had its world premiere in a special screening at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2025. There will be a Q&A session with director Duong after the shows.

The festival will open in HCM City with a screening of Irish award-winning That They May Face The Rising Sun on November 21 at 8pm at CineStar Cinema.

Based on internationally acclaimed Irish author John McGahern's award-winning novel of the same name, the movie is a vivid evocation of nature, humanity and life itself, set in a 1980s rural community in Ireland.

Its prizes include Best Film at the Irish Film and Television Awards 2024 and at the Dublin International Film Festival 2024 and Best Feature Film, Best Director and Avant-Garde and Genre Section at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2024.

Highlights of the festival will be the European Parliament's LUX Audience Award 2025-winning animation Flow and Spanish animation Robot Dreams. A wondrous journey through realms natural and mystical, Flow follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood.

Robot Dreams is about the adventures and misfortunes of Dog and Robot in New York City during the 1980s. It won best film awards at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, European Film Award and Bucheon International Animation Film Festival.

The festival expects to offer cinema lovers from all walks of life an enjoyable experience regardless of their tastes in films such as Spanish Robot Dreams, German Afire, Hungarian Four Souls of Coyote and Ukrainian Blind Vacation to name a few. All films screen with dual subtitles in Vietnamese and English.

Free tickets are available from November 12 and no pre-registration is required for ticket collection.

Five romantic films set for Wallonie-Bruxelles Film Festival in Vietnam

VOV.VN - The eighth Wallonie-Bruxelles Film Festival will run from November 6 to 12 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, featuring five romantic films that highlight Europe’s diverse cultural perspectives.