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The new Lux Film Lab is now up and running

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- The Luxembourg City Film Festival has joined forces with Kinepolis to offer monthly screenings of works "whose release dates didn’t allow them to be selected for the Festival"

The new Lux Film Lab is now up and running
True History of the Kelly Gang by Justin Kurzel

"Come as you are, dress up if you like": this is the slogan launched enthusiastically, if not rather impatiently, by the Luxembourg City Film Festival’s artistic committee to accompany its new LuxFilmLab initiative which kicked off on 1 July, delivered in collaboration with Kinepolis’ programme team. This invitation, aimed both at faithful followers of the festival and curious-minded newcomers, coincides with the recent re-opening of cinemas throughout the Grand Duchy and, on the first Wednesday of each month and for the rest of the year, will see audiences at Luxembourg City’s Ciné Utopia presented with a feature film which would have been selected for a previous edition of the festival, were it not for one reason or another (availability of broadcasting rights, scheduling conflicts) which prevented its selection on that particular occasion.

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The first work to be screened will be True History of the Kelly Gang [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Justin Kurzel. Following its international premiere in Toronto in September 2019, this Australian biographical western was supposed to close the 10th edition of the abandoned Luxembourg City Film Festival (read our news), so it’s no huge surprise that the Lux Film Lab organisers opted for this highly anticipated title.

Indeed, the festival has identified in this new project an ideal opportunity to extend and bolster its annual presence by lending support to innovative, atypical or independent works. Each screening will be accompanied by a commentary, delivered in person by one of the festival’s selectors, who will introduce the film and suggest possible readings of the work at the beginning of each seance. For the record, the event’s artistic committee is currently composed of 13 professionals, including (among others) Françoise Lentz (Film Fund Luxembourg), Marc Trappendreher (of the National Audiovisual Centre, a critic for Lëtzebuerger Land), Boyd Van Hoeij (critic for The Hollywood Reporter) and Nicole Dahlen (Luxembourg City Cinémathèque).

The LuxFilmLab is the latest in a wide range of activities offered outside of the Festival by its organisers, such as the Young Audience Award, backed by the European Film Academy and involving viewers in 70 towns across 41 countries, the Festival’s Holocaust Memorial Day, or the various one-off screenings held in Luxembourg throughout the year. In terms of industry activities, artistic director Alexis Juncosa has just announced the organisation’s active participation in the new Europa Film Festivals network, composed of 13 founding organisations (read our news).

As if that weren’t enough, the Luxembourg City Film Festival recently reported Georges Santer’s appointment as chair of the festival’s board of directors. This seasoned diplomat has held a number of positions representing the Grand Duchy’s government abroad (notably in France, Austria, China and within the Holy See and the UN). He has also formed part of the directorial team overseeing the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Sander replaces Colette Flesch, who had invested her energies into the team for over 10 years. The next edition of the event (hoped to unfold in person, health conditions permitting) will unspool between 4 – 14 March 2021.

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(Translated from French)

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