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Published by Editor
Feb 06, 2024
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Luxembourg City Film Festival Unveils Programme 2024

Wang Bing, Abderrahmane Sissako and Gaspar Noé among special guests



Ira Sachs, Vicky Krieps and Sebastian Koch confirmed for international jury

LuxFilmFest, the annual international film festival in Luxembourg, has unveiled the programme for its 14th edition, along with its guests of honour and jury members. Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing will kick off the festivities with an exhibition that can already be seen from 8 February. Running from 29 February - 10 March, the festival will also offer a Carte Blanche to Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, a tribute and a full retrospective to French director Gaspar Noé, and will welcome Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, German actor Sebastian Koch and American director Ira Sachs to its international jury. The festival will offer an extended programme of 123 films along with an industry programme full of workshops, meetings, and masterclasses.

 

OPENING, AWARDS CEREMONY & CLOSING

Opening the festival on 29 February is Nora Fingscheidt’s THE OUTRUN, an adaptation of Amy Liptrot's bestseller and starring Saoirse Ronan as a young woman struggling with addiction in Scotland's Orkney Islands, which heads to Luxembourg after its world premiere at Sundance.

 

For the Awards Ceremony on 9 March, Viggo Mortensen’s THE DEAD DON'T HURT will take audiences into the hellish world of 19th-century Nevada. Lead actress Vicky Krieps, who just finished shooting Jim Jarmusch's latest film and is also a member of the international jury this year, will present this feminist western which reinvents the codes of the genre.

 

The American-British LOVE LIES BLEEDING by Rose Glass (SAINT MAUD) and starring Kristen Stewart will officially close the festival on 10 March.

Still: DAY OF THE TIGER ©Domestic Film, Altamar Films, Graal

Still: GASOLINE RAINBOW ©The Match Factory

ABOUT THE LUXFILMFEST

Jointly supported by the Ministry of Culture and the City of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg City Film Festival is the country’s official festival. Each year, it presents a carefully compiled programme and numerous exclusive film screenings. The eleven-day event offers an overview of contemporary international filmmaking with a selection of feature films and documentaries, special screenings, national productions and a programme tailored to a younger audience.



Since the 2012 edition, the Festival has become competitive and awards the best international cinema in the categories of feature film (€10,000), documentary (€5,000) and young audience (€2,000). In 2022, a new prize was added, the 2030 Award by Luxembourg Aid & Development, which honours a work that falls within the scope of cooperation.

 

In 2022, American magazine Moviemakers selected Luxembourg City Film Festival as one of the 25 coolest festivals in the world.

 

The LuxFilmFest is also co-founder of the Europa Film Festivals network, which currently brings together 11 European festivals and it currently holds the presidency of this federation.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

Eight titles will be in the running for the GRAND PRIX by ORANGE worth €10,000, including DAY OF THE TIGER (Andrei Tanase*); Lav Diaz’s ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE LAKE; GASOLINE RAINBOW, by Bill and Turner* ROSS; Luna Carmoon’s HOARD; and Iranian-Luxembourg co-production TERRESTRIAL VERSES by Ali Asgari*.

 

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Six films will compete for the DOCUMENTARY PRIZE by BGL BNP PARIBAS, worth €5,000. The Festival has become accustomed to following the development of the filmmakers it welcomes, and this year it has given Tatiana Huezo the Follow Up label. The Mexican director returns to the festival with THE ECHO, which plunges us into the daily life of a family removed from the world and left to nature. Other titles in the Documentary Competition include EMBODIED CHORUS by Lebanese filmmakers Danielle Davie and Mohamed Sabbah* and a co-production with Luxembourg; Maite Alberd’s THE ETERNAL MEMORY; HOLLYWOODGATE by Ibrahim Nash'at; and KNIT'S ISLAND by Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L'Helgouac'h*.

 

Along with its two competitions, the festival also presents an Out of Competition section, a Made in Luxembourg programme featuring features and shorts and a section dedicated to Young Audiences.

 

*filmmakers attending the festival

 

THE JURIES

The so-far confirmed jury members for the competitions this year are:

 

INTERNATIONAL JURY:

• President of the Jury, Ira Sachs, Director (Passages, Frankie, Little Men, Love is Strange…), US.

• Nathalie Hertzberg, Screenwriter (Le procès Goldman), FR.

• Sebastian Koch, Actor (The Lives of Others, Amen, Danish Girl…), DE.

• Vicky Krieps, Actor (Phantom Thread, Bergman Island, Serre-moi fort…), LU.

• Marianne Slot, Productor (Woman at War, Dancer in the Dark, Antichrist…), DK and FR.

 

DOCUMENTARY JURY:

• Fanny Barrot, Co-General Delegate, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (FR).

• Laure Bonville, Programmer, BFI London Film Festival (UK).

• Alejandro Díaz Castaño, Artistic Director, Gijón International Film Festival (ES).

• Franck Finance-Madureira, President, Queer Palm (FR).

• Valeria Wagner, Programmer, Zürich Film Festival (CH).

 

The festival will also welcome a FIPRESCI Jury and a 2030 AWARD JURY by Luxembourg Aid & Development.

 

TWO NEW SEGMENTS: LUXFILMFEST FABRIC & CLUB

Alongside the LUXFILMLAB and LUXFILMFEST CAMPUS, two new parallel segments to the film screenings will be introduced in 2024. The LUXFILMFEST FABRIC programme will provide an extensive lineup of masterclasses and workshops - some of them as part of Industry Days, whereas the LUXFILMFEST CLUB will be the meeting place for the Festival and its partners, a place where experienced and up-and-coming filmmakers come together in different formats.

 

INDUSTRY PROGRAMME

Members of two federations (Europa Film festivals and Europa International) come together to tackle industry challenges. At conferences, workshops and social events, they meet with Luxembourg's professional scene and the festival's international guests to build synergies and foster networking.

 

VIRTUAL REALITY PAVILION, neimënster

The 7th edition of the Virtual Reality Pavilion showcases 10 internationally awarded, innovative works in virtual and augmented reality, transporting viewers into other imaginative worlds and times. Discover the story of a young girl during segregation in the U.S. in NOIRE, LA VIE MÉCONNUE DE CLAUDETTE COLVIN by Stéphane Foenkinos and Pierre-Alain Giraud; go back in time with Marion Deichmann to France during the Holocaust in LETTRES DE DRANCY by Darren Emerson; travel to the International Space Station in SPACE EXPLORERS – SPACEWALKERS by Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël; or immerse yourself in the poetic universe of the Matzeca indigenous community in Mexico in FLOATING WITH SPIRITS by Juanita Onzaga. The Pavilion’s 6th VR Day will once again bring together industry professionals and artists from around the world to discuss the opportunities, concerns, and future paths of XR in Luxembourg and beyond. The Virtual Reality Pavilion will be open to the public from 29 February to 17 March 2024, with free admission. It is organised by the FILM FUND Luxembourg in collaboration with the PHI Centre (MONTREAL) and NEIMËNSTER.

 

VIRTUAL REALITY JURY

This year's jury will be composed of:

• Delphine Munro, Head of Arts and Culture, European Investment Bank (LU)

• Emily Paige, Founder and Producer, E.D. Films (CA)

• Ulrich Schrauth, Artistic Director, VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival (DE)

 

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