On 14 May 2009 young Dutch film makers presented short films on the importance of Europe in our everyday life in a film festival entitled “Europe up close”. The event was held in the new state of the art public library in the harbour of Amsterdam.

Their short films discuss a wide range of topics such as the reunification of Europe and breaking down borders, freedom, cultural diversity, consumer protection and economic opportunities to mention a few examples. A jury, composed of former European Commission official Nico Wegter and programmer of the Netherlands Film festival Herman de Wit, awarded a short film on multilingualism with the festival’s main prize, whereas the audience preferred a film with inner city school children.

Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP and D66 party leader Alexander Pechtold MP were present to comment on the artists’ creativity and debated with the audience.

The jury awarded the following short film about Europe’s multilingualism and minority languages:

The audience awarded the short film about children and Europe:

All other short films can be viewed on Youtube:  here