European Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rosetta

All these movies by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne were nominated for the Golden Palm.
"Rosetta" (1999) describes the desperate search of a young girl for a job. The star of this movie is Emilie Dequenne. The movie has had such an impact that the Belgian government named one of the employment programs "Rosetta".
Luc (born 1954) and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (born 1951) are brothers who write, produce and direct their movies together. Many scenes are recorded with a handheld camera. Most movies by the brothers Dardenne deal with poor, unemployed people.
"Le fils" (2002) was nominated for a Golden Palm and won the jury prize.
"L'enfant" (2005) won the Golden Palm. Only a few directors have won the Golden Palm for two of their movies.
"Le silence de Lorna" (2008) was nominated for a Golden Palm and won the Best Screenplay award.

This question was brought to you by player JanIQ from Belgium.

Answer: Nosferatu

"Nosferatu" was released in 1922 in Germany under the title "Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Grauens" (a symphony of terror). The film is an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Supposed to be destroyed in 1925 due to copyright infringement, several film reels survived and today several restored versions of the film exist.
"Nosferatu" features Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok, Murnau's version of Dracula.
Considered as one of the first horror films, "Nosferatu" was groundbreaking for the entire genre.
Murnau (1888 - 1931) is to this day considered as one of Germany's most important and influencing directors.

Our player Evil Sorcerer prepared this question for you.

Answer: Soldier of Orange

"Soldaat van Oranje" ("Soldier of Orange") is based on true life experience of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, and directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Four friends and students of the University of Leiden follow their own path when Germany invades the Netherlands, during the Second World War. They either collaborate or join the resistance.
The author became the 'adjudant' (personal assistant) to Queen Wilhelmina and was by her side when she set foot on Dutch soil again in 1945.

"Turks Fruit" ("Turkish Delight") is the best Dutch Movie of the century.
This film adaption of Jan Wolkers' book was the start of the international career of actor Rutger Hauer ("Blade Runner", "Nighthawks", "Sin City" and "Batman Begins") and cameraman Jan de Bont who later directed the movies "Speed" and "Twister".

"De Vierde Man" ("The Fourth Man") was the director's last European movie before starting his Hollywood career.

"Zwart Boek" ("Black Book") was the Dutch submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Movie in 2007, but was not nominated.

Paul Verhoeven gained international fame with the movies "Robocop"(1987), "Total Recall" (1998), "Basic Instinct" (1992), "Starship Troopers" (1997) and "Hollow Man" (2000).
Although his movie "Showgirls" (1995) was considered a flop, it did gain cult movie status after some time.

The House of Orange, officially known as Orange-Nassau was founded by King William I in 1544 to revolt under Spanish rule and ultimately led to an independent Dutch State.

This question was brought to you by our Dutch teammate GraceGreer.

Answer: Django

Released in 1966, Sergio Corbucci's groundbreaking movie "Django" featured Franco Nero in the legendary role of Django, a gunslinger playing two groups of criminals off against each other. Nero reprised the role for the sequel released in 1987, but it was unable to live up to the success of the first movie.

Sabata was played by Lee Van Cleef in 1969 and 1971. Monco was played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "For a Few Dollars More" in 1965. Harmonica was a character in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West", played by Charles Bronson in 1968.

This was a question by player EvilSorcerer.

Answer: Best Writing - Original Screenplay

On 23 March 2003, Almodóvar won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He had also been nominated for Best Director (Roman Polanski won for "The Pianist"). It was Almodóvar's second Academy Award. In 1999 he won the category "Best Foreign Language Film" with "Todo sobre mi madre" ("All About my Mother").

This question was brought to you by Almodóvar aficionado rosaklebb.

Answer: "Ziemia obiecana", 1975 ("Promised Land"), based on Wladyslaw Reymont's novel.

Wladyslaw Reymont won the 1924 Nobel Prize for his epic "The Peasants".
The "Promised Land" is his second most famous book. The title is an ironic Bible reference; the industrial, multi-cultural (inhabited by Poles, Jews, Germans and Russians) city of Lodz, called "Polish Manchester" for its textile factories, fails to fulfill the promise.

"Quo Vadis" was only a red herring here. Sienkiewicz, indeed, won the Nobel Prize in 1905, but this movie was an American production, directed by Mervyn LeRoy four years before A. Wajda's feature debut "Pokolenie" ("A Generation").

Andrzejewski and Iwaszkiewicz never won the Noble Prize, but they might be considered Wajda's favorite writers, each of them contributed to four of his movies.

Question by player Krzysztof.

Answer: The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Ken Loach is an English director whose movies tend to have a high level of realism about them. He also prefers not to use method actors and in most of his movies he uses as many local actors as he can. In the 2006 movie "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" Loach shot the whole movie in County Cork.

The movie describes two brothers who at first fight together against the British to gain independence, and finally get involved on opposite sites in a civil war ensuing from the independence fight.

The title of the movie was derived from a song of the same name and is featured in the movie itself.

Question by player dolano.

Answer: La grande Vadrouille (Don't Look Now, We're Being Shot At)

Louis de Funčs was born in 1914 and died in 1983. He started his movie career in 1946 and appeared in at least 152 movies.
I've added the international titles (where available) for those of you who don't speak French.

In the movie "La grande Vadrouille" (1966), Louis plays the role of Stanislas Lefort, director of the Paris opera during the German occupation. When a British plane is shot down over Paris, one of the crew members lands, by parachute, on top of the opera. Stanislas Lefort and the housepainter Augustin Bouvet (a role of Bourvil) try and help the British airmen to escape. "La grande Vadrouille" won the Golden Screen Award in Germany.

In "L'Aile ou la Cuisse" (1976), Louis de Funčs plays the role of the culinary critic Charles Duchemin.
In "Les Aventures du Rabbi Jacob" (1973), Louis plays the businessman Victor Pivert. Although Pivert is biased by racial and religious prejudices, he is compelled to act as a Jewish rabbi to escape his enemies.
"Le Gendarme et les Extra-Terrestres" (1979, no international title) shows us Louis de Funčs as the policeman Ludovic Cruchot stationed in Saint-Tropez, trying to defeat a number of metal oil-drinking humanoids. As there is no international title, I've translated it myself.

Question crafted by team leader JanIQ who rolls on the floor laughing and remembering some of the scenes in all these movies.

Answer: Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Anderson (1923-94) directed only six feature movies: "This Sporting Life" (1963), "If...." (1968), "O Lucky Man!" (1973), "In Celebration" (1975), "Britannia Hospital" (1982), "The Whales of August" (1987).
The Mick Travis trilogy consists of "If....", "O Lucky Man!" and "Britannia Hospital".

It was McDowell's performance in "If...." that caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick (who wasn't British anyway) and resulted in his best remembered role of Alex in "A Clockwork Orange" (1971).

Question by player Krzysztof, who loves "O Lucky Man!"

Answer: Golden Lion and Golden Bear

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. The principal award there is the Golden Lion ("Leone d'Oro"), a winged lion of St. Mark the Apostle, the city's patron saint. At the Berlin International Film Festival or "Berlinale", movies compete for the Golden Bear ("Goldener Bär"). The bear is the symbool of Berlin and features both in the coat of arms and flag of Germany's capital.

The other possible answers are awards to be won at film festivals of Cairo (Pyramid), Utrecht (Calf), Thessaloniki (Alexander), Marrakech (Star), San Sebastián (Shell) and Locarno (Leopard).

Question by player Debarrio