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DISTRIBUTION / RELEASES / EXHIBITORS Luxembourg

LuxFilmFest Home Edition launches “Phase 2” of its online offering

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- Between 8 May and 18 June, 60 films from past editions of the Luxembourg City Film Festival will be made available on the VOD.lu platform

LuxFilmFest Home Edition launches “Phase 2” of its online offering
For A Happy Life by Salima Sarah Glamine and Dimitri Linder

A few weeks back, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organisers of the biggest film festival in the Grand Duchy to halt activities eight days after the event opening. Boasting highlights such as the thirtieth anniversary of the Film Fund Luxembourg and a greater virtual reality presence via the new Neumünster pavilion, the abrupt cancellation of the Luxembourg City Film Festival’s 10th edition left something of a bitter taste (read our news).

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Captained by Alexis Juncosa, the organisers’ reaction was immediate: as of 31 March, the festival had already initiated a partnership with the VOD.lu platform to exclusive viewings of a selection of films at adjusted rates, thereby allowing audiences to catch up on Luxembourg (co-)productions which they didn’t get the chance to see. In this sense, LuxFilmFest Home Edition is offering a second chance to Norie [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a wonderful documentary on grief and the memory of lost loved ones, directed by Yuki Kawamura, as well as River Tales by Julie Schroell, a beautiful, precious and essential account of a youth spent in Nicaragua on the banks of the San Juan River. The virtual Q&A sessions organised immediately after these two digital screenings alone drew in an impressive 4,500 participants via Facebook.

They’re encouraging results, which inspired the festival’s artistic committee to launch a second wave of online programming, once again in association with the Film Fund Luxembourg, d’Filmakademie and VOD.lu. Far more substantial than the initial offering, this “Phase 2” selection, which is accessible until 18 June, has been organised around the themes explored by stand-out titles from previous editions of the festival.

As an added bonus for viewers, some of these feature films will be available free of charge at weekends. Stephan Schech’s animation Moon Man [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(based on Tomi Ungerer’s children’s story), a film whose visual style - a far cry from the formulaic canons of certain Hollywood productions - still captivates viewers eight years on from its release, is just one of these works. It can be found within the platform’s Young Audiences section, alongside Ioanis Nuguet’s Spartacus & Cassandra [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Denis Do’s Funan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Do
film profile
]
.

Whisking the viewer from the south of Spain via Sarah Hirtt’s Escapada [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sarah Hirtt
film profile
]
, to the agitated waters of the Atlantic Ocean via Wolfgang Fischer’s impressive Styx [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile
]
, passing through the Malian landscape of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the “Sortir des sentiers battus” (Off the Beaten Track) section allows viewers to lose themselves in world cinema. Fans of passionate love, meanwhile, will want to hunker down with the “Au bonheur des drames” (Delightful Dramas) line-up, notably offering up Another Woman’s Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
which was directed by Sylvie Testud and stars Juliette Binoche and Mathieu Kassovitz in the cast. As for genre cinema, viewers will be able to (re)discover The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, an homage to the Italian “giallo” genre which we never grow tired of, available on the platform from 29 May.

Among the various must-see co-productions hailing from Luxembourg over the past ten years, viewers will be pleased to find For A Happy Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Salima Sarah Glamine and Dimitri Linder on their screens, not to mention Post-Partum [+see also:
trailer
interview: Delphine Noels
film profile
]
by Delphine Noels. Also among the unmissable titles in this selection is Bernard Bellefroid’s Melody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernard Bellefroid
film profile
]
, a depiction of surrogacy that’s both sensitive and brutal.

As for the 11th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival, the event is set to unfold between 4 – 14 March 2021.

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(Translated from French)

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