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FESTIVALS Austria

The sixth edition of the LET’S CEE Film Festival is ready to kick off

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- The Vienna-based festival (13-22 April) will screen a selection of 162 films; Márta Mészáros will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening gala, Kira Muratova at the closing gala

The sixth edition of the LET’S CEE Film Festival is ready to kick off
The Gateway by Volodymyr Tykhyy

The sixth edition of the LET’S CEE Film Festival is due to kick off today, 13 April, with a screening of November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rea Lest
film profile
]
by Rainer Sarnet. Until 22 April, a total of 162 feature-length fiction films, documentaries, short films and VR movies, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, including the Caucasus region and Turkey, will be presented. With the exception of works shown as part of retrospectives and similar series, the festival will almost exclusively feature Austrian premieres.

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The grande dame of Hungarian cinema, legendary director Márta Mészáros, will be attending the festival and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. Yariv Lerner, who runs the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Czech actor Karel Roden, Balkan star Leon Lučev, Jordan-based actress Saba Mubarak, US porn star and actress Stoya and over 150 additional filmmakers will be among the guests at this year’s edition. 

The high-quality Feature Film Competition will host a total of 12 films, such as Directions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile
]
, in which Stephan Komandarev paints an unvarnished picture of Bulgarian society through nocturnal taxi rides; the unusual artist biography Dovlatov [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milan Maric
film profile
]
by Russian director Alexey German JrMarina Stepanska’s impressive debut, Falling [+see also:
trailer
interview: Marina Stepanska
film profile
]
, from Ukraine, both a fragile love story and an intense portrait of a lost generation; and Constantin Popescu’s psychological drama Pororoca [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Constantin Popescu
film profile
]
 from Romania, about a happy family’s terrible nightmare. Also vying for the new Danny Lerner Award valued at €55,000 (€50,000 of which in services from Nu Boyana) are Birds Are Singing in Kigali [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos-Krauze
film profile
]
by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof KrauzeIce Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Bohdan SlámaIvan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janez Burger
interview: Maruša Majer
film profile
]
by Janez BurgerMen Don’t Cry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alen Drljević
film profile
]
by Alen DrljevićPiotr Domalewski’s Silent Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Piotr Domalewski
film profile
]
Something Useful [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pelin Esmer
film profile
]
by Pelin Esmer and The Gateway [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Volodymyr Tykhyy.

In the Documentary Competition, half of the ten works were fortunately made by female filmmakers. The tough training schedule of a top-class Russian gymnast was documented by young Polish director Marta Prus in her entry Over the Limit [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, life in a Kurdish village on the Syrian border was explored by Reyan Tuvi from Turkey in her poetic film No Place for Tears, and the portrait of a “gentle neo-Nazi” was outlined by the Czech Republic's Vít Klusák in The White World According to Daliborek [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vít Klusák
film profile
]
.

The Promising Debuts Competition will welcome 13 productions. Among them are the sci-fi spectacle Ederlezi Rising [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by first-time Serbian director Lazar Bodroža, the drama Meda or The Not So Bright Side of Things [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emanuel Pârvu
film profile
]
by Emanuel Pârvu from Romania, Secret Ingredient [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Blagoj Veselinov
interview: Gjorce Stavreski
film profile
]
, the black-humoured and well-made debut film by Macedonia's Gjorce Stavreski, and Tower. A Bright Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jagoda Szelc
film profile
]
by Jagoda Szelc from Poland, a haunting cinematic experience teetering between a psychological thriller and a relationship drama.

Out of hundreds of entries, exactly 15 films have made it into this year’s Short Film Competition, curated by Arash T Riahi and Arman T Riahi, who did not forget to include some incredible world premieres. Several sections such as Hollywood Goes CEE, and retrospectives like 100 Years and Women and War, will bring the programme full circle.

The full programme of the festival is available here.

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