21/10/2003

Based on a huge amount of research, the City of Luxembourg Film Archive has organised a series of special evenings, conferences, retrospectives and concerts for youngsters as part of its contribution to Cinedays 2003. Starting off from the idea that current European cinema is supported by a generation of directors who took their first steps in the world of cinematography in the 1980s, the Film Archive has planned a week of evenings around the theme “Big Bang” of European cinema: showing quality films, sometimes provocative in nature, often iconoclastic, but always quality productions. It’s a chance to see The Element of Crime by Lars von Trier (Denmark, 1984), My Beautiful Laundrette by Stephen Frears (UK, 1985), The Last Combat by Luc Besson (France, 1982), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! by Pedro Almodovar (Spain, 1989) and I Hired a Contract Killer by Aki Kaurismaki (Finland, 1989).

There will be some special conferences and film screenings based around the theme "Image Attack !", The power of the image in the media. Then there’s also the film conference on the theme of manipulation in the cinema hosted by the Austrian journalist and historian Peter Huemer, while Marc-Olivier Padis, the news editor of the magazine ‘Esprit’, will be coordinating a debate on Reality Television. The producer and film distributor, Paul Thiltges will be the host for the film conference on Ladri di saponette by Maurizio Michetti. And finally Robert Blanchet from the Philosophy Institute in Vienna will talk about Blockbusters: the weapons of mass seduction. The programme ends on October 24 with a film-rock concert, including a screening of the film by Dziga Vertov The Man with a Movie Camera, and the concert by the group Zap Zoo.

(Translated from French)