02/10/2019 - The 12th edition of Luxembourg’s Central and Eastern European Film Festival will take place from 3-20 October

The CinÉast - Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg is celebrating its 12th edition from 3-20 October. The programme features a wide array of feature and short films coming from every country of Central and Eastern Europe, which will be screened across different venues in the capital of the Grand Duchy.

The festival is inviting a total of seven feature films to partake in its Competition, and they come from the selections of the main film festivals in Europe: Cat in the Wall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
film profile], the Locarno-premiered first feature by Bulgarian duo Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova; Corpus Christi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bartosz Bielenia
interview: Jan Komasa
film profile], directed by Poland’s Jan Komasa (winner of the Europa Cinemas Label in the recent Giornate degli Autori at Venice); Oleg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juris Kursietis
film profile] by Latvian director Juris Kursietis (world-premiered in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight); Open Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florenc Papas
film profile] by Albanian filmmaker Florenc Papas (world-premiered at Sarajevo); Lithuanian filmmaker Karolis Kaupinis’ Nova Lituania [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karolis Kaupinis
film profile] and Estonian director Martti Helde’s Scandinavian Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martti Helde
film profile] (both world-premiered in Karlovy Vary’s East of the West section); and Stitches [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miroslav Terzić
film profile], directed by Serbian filmmaker Miroslav Terzić (winner of the Europa Cinemas Label in the Panorama section of the latest Berlinale).

As usual, the festival has invited a group of international film professionals to make up the jury of the Competition, which this year will be chaired by veteran French filmmaker Jacques Doillon, who will be flanked by Venice Days programmer Renata Santoro, Romanian filmmaker Marius Olteanu, Luxembourgish director-producer Adolf El Assal and Luxembourgish actress Sophie Mousel.

The Competition is only a small portion of the festival’s programme, which will be introducing Luxembourgish audiences to several sections, such as Funnyeast, a selection of comedies, including Urša Menart’s My Last Year as a Loser [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Timon Sturbej
film profile], Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník’s Old-Timers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martin Dušek, Ondřej Provaz…
film profile], and Gábor Reisz’s Bad Poems [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; Cinédocs, a selection of documentaries, including Aistė Žegulytė’s Animus Animalis (A Story about People, Animals and Things) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aistė Žegulytė
film profile], Šimon Šafránek’s King Skate [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s Honeyland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara K…
interview: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir S…
film profile]; and Cinéshorts, putting the focus on fiction, documentary and animated short films hailing from the region.

The closing film of the festival will be one of the highest-profile titles in the selection, as Corneliu Porumboiu’s acclaimed thriller The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile], world-premiered in the Palme d’Or competition at the latest Cannes Film Festival, will be playing after the awards ceremony.

Besides the art, music and gastronomy events that CinÉast will also be organising as part of its programme, the festival will be inviting along a huge number of guests and film professionals from the region, most of them representing the films in the selection, in order to make a kind of Central and Eastern European embassy out of the city during the month of October.