LUXFILMFEST 2020 – CANCELLATION

Following the recommendations and restrictions announced by the Government Council today, on 12th March 2020, the organisers of the Luxembourg City Film Festival have decided to cancel the 10th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival as of tomorrow morning.

The film screenings and events planned for Friday, 13th March, Saturday, 14th March, and Sunday, 15th March are thus cancelled and will not take place.

Individual tickets for the screenings in question will be refunded if requested.

We would like to thank our audiences, all festivalgoers, collaborators, partners and friends of the Festival for having been part of this 10th edition.

We will be reachable by phone in the coming days for any additional information.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Festival organisers

With over 29,100 visitors in 2019 and a 21% increase of cinema audience members, the Luxembourg City Film Festival has firmly established itself as the nation’s leading cinema event and is one of Europe’s festivals with the most spectacular growth.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture and the City of Luxembourg, Luxembourg City Film Festival is the country’s official film festival. With this in mind, it is committed to presenting high-quality, exclusive content of undeniable artistic value, featuring a vast panorama of international contemporary fiction and documentary films, special screenings, Luxembourgish productions and a young audiences programme.

Beyond the 208 screenings in the three partner cinema complexes (Ciné Utopia, Kinepolis Kirchberg, and the Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg), the Festival welcomed 327 international guests and professional visitors in 2019and dares to venture beyond film theatres, hosting special evening events, free workshops, exhibitions and concerts in many of the capital’s cultural institutions. In the nine years since its inception, the Festival didn’t just earn the trust of these national institutions, but hosted several events in collaboration with international partners such as the United Nations, diplomatic representations, the European Film Academy, the World Bank as well as other Festivals.

In 2012 the Luxembourg City Film Festival became competitive with awards for the best international fiction film (10,000 €), best documentary (5,000 €) and best young audience film (2,000 €).

From 5th – 15th March 2020, the Festival will return for its 10th edition. Visitors can expect 11 days centered on cinema inside and outside the theatres in the city centre of Luxembourg.

We are looking forward to meeting you there!

Ook Nederland heeft dit jaar weer bijgedragen aan meerdere films. Zie hieronder de hele lijst, of kijk op de website voor alle beschikbare films.

Binti

(by Frederike Migom)

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/binti

Binti, the daughter of an illegal immigrant to Belgium, hatches a plan to save her family from deportation.

Like many girls her age, twelve-year-old Binti dreams of becoming a famous vlogger. But Binti and her father live as undocumented immigrants in Belgium, constantly at risk of being deported as illegal aliens. Eleven-year-old Elias on the other hand lives with his divorced mother and is busy running his “Save the Okapi”. But he isn’t too keen on his annoying neighbour eyeing his mother and planning a trip together. When Binti has to go on the run after a police raid, both children cross paths and become friends. Binti hatches a plan: Not only can she help Elias’ animal conservation efforts with her vlog, but if she could get her dad to marry Elias’s mum, Binti and her father wouldn’t be forced to leave Belgium any longer.

Curieuse nature / Droleg Natur

by Olivier Pesch, Robin Noorda, Bethany de Forest, Gary Fouchy, Jeremy Guerrieri, Paul Jaulmes, Nicolas Leroy, Leslie Martin, Maud Sertour, Alexandre Toufaili

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/curieuse-nature-droleg-natur

For the Festival’s tenth anniversary edition, the Rotondes and Luxembourg City Film Festival have teamed up to organise a joyful live film concert, conceived especially for young audiences.

The three animated shorts selected for this new production brim with light-heartedness and irony. Set in natural surroundings that never cease to amaze us, the stories’ protagonists show infinite inventiveness and forge new friendships. Their creativity is reflected in the motley musical worlds conjured by Florence Kraus and Grégoire Terrier. The images on the screen might be silent, but the atmosphere in the room is going to be exuberant!

For this film concert, the following films will be accompanied musically by Florence Kraus and Grégoire Terrier:

• Émilie by Olivier Pesch (LU, BE, 2013 – 16’)
• Red-end and the Factory Plant by Robin Noorda and Bethany de Forest (NL, BE, 2015 – 16’)
• L’inventeur by Gary Fouchy, Jeremy Guerrieri, Nicolas Leroy, Paul Jaulmes, Nicolas Leroy, Leslie Martin, Maud Sertour and Alexandra Touffaili (FR, 2010 – 5’)

Both the public and school screenings will be followed by an exchange with the artists.

Cycle

by Sophie Olga de Jong, Sytske Kok

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/cycle

A little girl gets a taste of adventure by cycling.

A small round story about a girl who learns to cycle from her grandfather and discovers that where the road ends real adventure begins.

Easygoing Teddy – Five animated short films for the little ones

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/easygoing-teddy-five-animated-short-films-little-ones

Five animated short films for the little ones.

These five humorous animated short films put love, friendship, and thirst for adventures and new discoveries centre stage: Two hummingbirds want to learn how to fly, a little girl lives an adventure on the saddle of her bike, two lemurs fight the forces of destiny to meet again, a bear makes a friend for life, a curious, fluffy animal confronts its fears, and a bird-of-paradise is looking for his soulmate.

The programme consists of the following films:

• The Fruits of Clouds by Kateřina Karhánková (CZ, 2017 – 10’)
• Cycle by Sophie Olga et Jong, Sytske Kok (NL, 2019 – 2’)
• Two Balloons by Marc C. Smith (US, 2017 – 9’)
• Lemon & Elderflower by Ilenia Cotardo (UK, 2018 – 3’)
• Easygoing Teddy by Tomislav Gregl (HR, 2017 – 8’)

Freedom Fields

by Naziha Arebi

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/freedom-fields

A portrait of contemporary Libya through the story of three women fighting for their right to play football after the Arab Spring.

Emboldened by the Arab Spring, three Libyan women see their dream of becoming professional football players for the first time as a real possibility well within reach. However, their sport faces huge opposition in their home country and as Libya descends into civil war and repression in the aftermath of the revolution, their hopes come crashing down. Shot over the period of five years, we see how these women from different social and political backgrounds have to fight for room to manoeuvre, both in public and private life, in order to play their sport. Even though they experience disillusionment, they seize new opportunities and keep pursuing their dream – and almost accidentally find their calling as role models for a new generation of girls. As personal stories weave into the history of a country, the portrayal of these women’s lives accounts for Libya’s political state.

An intimate film about hope, struggle and sacrifice in a land where dreams seem a luxury. A love letter to sisterhood and the power of team spirit.

“[The documentary’s strength] is that Arebi doesn’t polarise the arguments. Rather than creating a girls against society polemic in a battle against the community and religion, [she] shows how the girls try to balance their own religious beliefs, love of football and respect for the norms of public life.” Kaleem Aftab, The National, 08/10/2019

I will gross tomorrow

by Sepideh Farsi

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/i-will-cross-tomorrow-demain-je-traverse

The brief but intense encounter of a Greek police officer and a Syrian refugee changes the way the two see this world.

Maria is a Greek police officer, single mom and only child. She juggles between her money problems, her teenage daughter and her old mother amidst the financial crisis in her country. When the police station she is working at is being closed, she has to accept a new job on the island of Lesbos, far away in the Aegean Sea, and leave her daughter behind in Athens. At her new posting in a refugee camp on the island, her path crosses the one of Yussof, a young Syrian rebel who fled his war-ridden country to avoid being obliged to kill, now hoping for a new life in Europe. But Yussof comes to realise that Greece isn’t the safe haven he made it out to be. As the two get to know each other, they come to realise that they share a traumatising secret they both feel guilty for. Their encounter will be brief but intense, and change the way they see this world.

Romy’s Salon (Kapsalon Romy)

by Mischa Kamp

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/romys-salon-kapsalon-romy

When Grandma Stine shows early signs of dementia, it’s her granddaughter Romy’s turn to look after her.

Romy has to spend her afternoons at her grandma’s house and often helps her at the hair salon in the Netherlands. Yet lately there is something wrong with grandma. She keeps forgetting everything, always talks about the sea and her childhood in Denmark, and even suddenly starts speaking Danish. Romy supports her grandma as much as she can so no one notices anything. Until the day, grandma shows up in the hair salon wearing nothing but her nightgown and finally ends up in a rest home. But Romy isn’t so sure that this is the best place for her. Surely, she would appreciate it if Romy were to take her to her childhood beach once more.

Train of Life

by Radu Mihăileanu

https://www.luxfilmfest.lu/en/films/train-life-train-de-vie

A group of Eastern European Jews come up with a bold plan to escape the advancing Germans: They’ll build their own fake deportation train.

One evening in 1941, the village fool of a small Jewish community in Eastern Europe, warns his fellow townsfolk that the Germans have arrived in the area and have begun slaughtering the inhabitants of the nearby shtetls, deporting the survivors to an unknown destination. The same night, the village elders meet in a hurry to discuss how to save their community. Just before dawn, they agree on a solution: to escape the Nazis, they’ll have to get their hands on a fake deportation train. Playing the role of deportees, train engineers and German soldiers all at once, the villagers will get through the German checkpoints, cross the Russian border and reach the Promised Land. But as the Russian border gets closer, tensions among the villagers rise as some of them start settling in a little too much into their new role as German officers while others found a militant communist cell.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with one of the film’s main actors, Rufus, and Yves Steichen of the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA), as well as a representative of the Zentrum fir politesch Bildung.