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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Denis Do
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Whisking the viewer from the south of Spain via Sarah Hirtt’s Escapada [+lee también:
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entrevista: Sarah Hirtt
ficha de la película], to the agitated waters of the Atlantic Ocean via Wolfgang Fischer’s impressive Styx [+lee también:
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entrevista: Wolfgang Fischer
ficha de la película], passing through the Malian landscape of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Salima Sarah Glamine and Dimitri Linder on their screens, not to mention Post-Partum [+lee también:
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entrevista: Delphine Noels
ficha de la película] by Delphine Noels. Also among the unmissable titles in this selection is Bernard Bellefroid’s Melody [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bernard Bellefroid
ficha de la película], a depiction of surrogacy that’s both sensitive and brutal.

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