Surrounded by all of those who have devoted time and energy, as well as so many organizations that have supported the festival financially and technically, I am very happy to present to you all the 6th Osaka European Film Festival. If the previous year’s festival, which marked its 5th birthday, was symbolically meaningful by proving its legitimacy, this 6th Festival, at the advent of the 3rd millennium is, for us, a strong symbolic expression of our will to carry on. This year’s festival will also conclude the century which was highlighted by the technological revolution which has made possible the reproduction of the world by moving images: cinema. If cinema is “action”, it is perhaps the concept of “movement” that becomes important in defining one of the meanings of European cinema. “Movement” has made this art a powerful medium by providing knowledge of other countries, peoples and systems of thinking . In other words, by gaining information about others, one understands better about his/her own existence. We can witness these movements behind the diversity of subjects that are being treated in the films selected at this year’s Festival. From the slippery displacements of a film crew on the ice-rink to the course of jealousy and murder, from the improvement of the spirit of an old writer to the entanglement of the destinies of breaking couples, from the clamor of a city in reconstruction to the distress of a man under the influence of carnal passion, there are the movements of bodies, spirits and hearts that these films convey in their stories in the first place. While so many important events are celebrated this year, the arrival of the first Portuguese fleet in the Japanese territory marks its 450th anniversary. We can point out the curious coincidence that this 6th OEFF is presided by Mr. Paulo Rocha, the most Japanese of the Portuguese filmmakers. He has made 5 films inspired by the Japanese culture and its traditions, and he remains one of the most significant filmmakers in his country to mix in his movies the poetries and symbols that are particularly associated with the Portuguese culture. We are happy not only to screen his latest film, but to present to Mr. Rocha this year’s Osaka City Prize. Another homage goes to Mr. Jean-Philippe Toussaint, who not only has a great appreciation of Japanese culture, but he had in fact, briefly lived in this country where he has many faithful fans of both his writing and his films. We are proud to be able to present under the patronage of the Belgium Festival ’99, the first retrospect of his work ever to be shown in Asia. We are also honored to present to Mr. Toussaint the Young Cinema Prize by the Osaka