The successful screening series of the Estonian Institute presenting the numerous links between Arvo Pärt’s music and cinema is to be continued in 2016. Pärt’s music inspired numerous film directors from Jean-Luc Godard through Tom Tykwer.

THE LOVERS OF THE BRIDGE
(Les Amants du Pont-Neuf)
French drama film, 1991, 124 min.
directed by Leos Carax

Set around the Pont Neuf, Paris's oldest bridge, while it was closed for repairs, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf depicts a love story between two young vagrants Alex (Denis Lavant) and Michèle (Juliette Binoche). Alex is a street performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michèle a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and a disease which is slowly destroying her sight. The film portrays their harsh existence living on the bridge with Hans (Klaus Michael Grüber), an older vagrant. As her vision deteriorates Michèle becomes increasingly dependent on Alex. When a possible treatment becomes available, Michèle's family use street posters and radio appeals to trace her. Fearing that she will leave him if she receives the treatment, Alex tries to keep Michèle from becoming aware of her family's attempts to find her. The streets, skies and waterways of Paris are used as a backdrop for the story in a series of set-pieces set during the French Bicentennial celebrations in 1989.

Work of Arvo Pärt used in the soundtrack:
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten

The screening will be introduced by film- and music critic László Kolozsi (in Hungarian).