The fifth edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival kicks off in the Grand Duchy on February 26 and is set to delight film buffs all across the region until March 8.
This year’s line-up promises a diverse programme of movies, from short films and features to fiction and documentary, local and international productions, masterclasses, as well as script writing or film critique classes.
With 66 films and 120 screenings, the festival is set to be the year’s major event in the local film industry. Previously named “Discovery Zone” Film Festival, Luxembourg’s film fest is now in its 5th edition and is sure to keep up, more than ever, the high standards of the films and events on offer for participants.
Jafar Panahi’s Golden Bear- winning film “Taxi” is one of this year’s entry in the Official Competition along with other feature films such as “A Blast” by Syllas Tzoumerkas, “Refugiado” by Diego Lerman, “Rocks in my Pocket” by Signe Baumane, “Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents” by Stina Werenfels, “Test” by Aleksandr Kott, “The Lesson” by Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, “While We’Re Young” by Noah Baumbach, “Three Windows and A Hanging” by Isa Qosja and “Blind” by Eskil Vogt.
This year, Lux Film Fest will take you from Hollywood to Luxembourg, via Japan (Kawaki), Iran (Taxi, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), Romania (Toto and his Sisters), as well as the Balkans (Three Windows and an Hanging).
Besides the official competitions for feature films and documentaries, the films made in Luxembourg and the official selection of films to be screened during the festival, members of the public can also attend a number of free-entry masterclasses, such as “Regards sur le cinema iranien” and a masterclass on production design.
Young audiences are not disregarded either, festival organisers proposing a large number of screenings and events, as well as workshops for small kids, school-age children and teenagers.
Among the festival’s exclusive events, there will be the screening of “I am Femen” in the presence of Oksana Shachko, co-founder of the movement FEMEN and author Alain Margot (on March 2), and a workshop series on film criticism by film writer and reviewer Boyd Van Hoeij (on February 28, March 1, 4 and 6).
Tim Burton’s “Big Eyes” will be the festival’s opening film, while Luxembourg-Belgium co-production “Babya(lone) by Renato Rotunno will mark the ending on March 7.
On March 6, there will also be a special screening of Joanna Lipper’s documentary “The Supreme Price” with the support of the United Nations.
Director Joanna Lipper elegantly explores past and present, as she tells the remarkable story of Hafsat Abiola, daughter of human rights heroine Kudirat Abiola, and Nigeria’s President-elect M.K.O. Abiola, who won a historic vote in 1993 that promised to end years of military dictatorship.
The winning films for the three categories, Grand Prix, Prix de la Critique and Prix Documentaire, will be screened again on March 8 from 16:30 at Luxembourg’s Cinematheque.
During the festival, cinema lovers, actors, film-makers and any other members of the public can visit the festival’s headquarters “Ratskeller”, an exhibition venue, located at Cercle Cité in the heart of Luxembourg-City.
For 10 days, “Ratskeller” will be the place to be for festival-goers, as a wide range of free events and exhibitions, centered around the world of cinema, will take place on the premises. During the day, a welcome and information desk will also be available for the public.
For all details on films, screening times and festival news, click here.
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