The 7th Luxembourg City Film Festival will take place from 2 to 12 March 2017, with its headquarters on the Place de la Constitution in Luxembourg city centre, and screenings and other events taking place at the CINÉMATHÈQUE DE LA VILLE DE LUXEMBOURG, CINÉ UTOPIA, UTOPOLIS KIRCHBERG, the festival’s HEADQUARTERS, CERCLE CITÉ and several cultural partner institutions throughout Luxembourg.
HIGHLY EXLUSIVE PREMIERES AT UTOPOLIS KIRCHBERG
Opening film (2 March): DENIAL (Mick Jackson, USA) - the true story of the lawsuit against Deborah E. Lipstadt (played by Rachel Weisz), accused of defamation by Holocaust denier David Irving.
Awards ceremony (10 March): DJANGO (Étienne Comar, France), a great biopic of gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt (played by Reda Kateb).
Closing film (12 March): SONG TO SONG (Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Nathalie Portman, Cate Blanchett…). This film event, which will be celebrating its world premiere at the opening of the prestigious South By Southwest in Austin only two days later on 10 March, will experience its international premiere in Luxembourg.
GOLD (Stephen Gaghan, USA), featuring Matthew McConaughey - a film that lies somewhere between biopic, adventure film and success story.
MISS SLOANE (John Madden, USA): in which Jessica Chastain takes on the gun lobby.
DRAMA:
- DARK NIGHT (Tim Sutton, USA) is at first glance reminiscent of ELEPHANT. A drama (the 2012 Aurora cinema shooting), a segmented narration… but the parallels end there. Hypnotic, at times documentarian, this extraordinary film highlights the malaise of a certain American youth visibly devoid of guidance.
- GLORY (Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, Bulgaria) reunites us with the authors of THE LESSON, winner at the 2015 festival in Luxembourg. How to deflect the public’s attention from an affair involving corrupt politicians? In Bulgaria, the answer is to fabricate heroes. In this case, railway worker Tsanko Petrov, who soon regrets handing over a true treasure to the authorities.
- GRAVE (Julia Ducournau, France/Belgium) is a film that certainly leaves an impression, to the extent of winning the Grand Prix at the Gérardmer Festival du Film Fantastique in France last week. This is the story of a vegetarian forced to consume meat as part of an initiation ritual and who then goes on to discover some truly voracious instincts. A gruesome film for informed audiences.
- HOUSE OF OTHERS (Rusudan Glurjidze, Georgia), is above all the humanity, the staging and the interpretation that sets this film apart. A powerful anti-war statement raising very topical questions.
- I AM NOT MADAME BOVARY (Feng Xiaogang, China) is THE Chinese revelation of the year. Behind the burlesque (involving a scam divorce requiring remarriage for a better final divorce) and a distinctive visual style (circular framing), the film levels harsh criticism against a certain type of bureaucracy.
- NELLY (Anne Emond, Canada), a Canadian film inspired by the life and work of Nelly Arcan, best-selling author and escort girl. Mylène Mackay – who will grace us with her presence at the film’s screening – is mesmerising in her incarnation of the title character.
- SAMI BLOOD (Amanda Kernell, Sweden) shines the spotlight on the Lapps, an indigenous people who, like others, has been subjected to severe discrimination. Reindeer herder Elle Marja is forced to choose between observing tradition and assimilating into Swedish society.
- THE LOST CITY OF Z (USA) sees James Gray rolling out the heavy artillery. Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson… As could be expected in telling the true story of Percy Fawcett, a scientific explorer ridiculed by his community, who goes missing in the heart of the Amazon.
- THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland) tells of the chance encounter between a Syrian refugee and a Finnish poker addict. A culture shock illustrating, in an elegant and powerful way, the migration issues facing today’s world. Another great top-drawer director, Aki Kaurismäki, is also part of the competition line-up.
- TRANSPECOS (Greg Kwedar, USA) plays out in the arena earmarked for the construction of a wall. A dark and highly tense thriller, in which each character is complex, in which the notion of good and evil is as volatile as the sandstorms invading the screen. A film on Trump’s America.
DOCUMENTARY:
- FOREVER PURE (Maya Zinshtein, Israel) tells the story of how the recruitment of two young Chechen Muslims to the highly conservative football team Beitar Jerusalem F.C. led to the most terrifying racist campaign in Israeli sport.
- I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (Raoul Peck, France, USA) is, hands down, one of this year’s most highly anticipated documentaries. Raoul Peck achieves the feat of magnifying and organising the concepts of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers (to name but a few), drawing on the compelling narration by Samuel L. Jackson, based on the writings of James Baldwin, to illustrate how the image (and the reality) of African Americans is shaped and enforced today.
- MACHINES (Rahul Jain, India), acknowledged at Sundance for its magnificent photography, is a journey into the abyss of an industry in which man is no more than an insignificant cog in a gigantic wheel.
- RAT FILM (Theo Anthony, USA) explores the relationship of man with one of the world’s most reviled animals. Like most big cities, Baltimore is home to inconceivable colonies of rats.
- THE GOOD POSTMAN (Tonislav Hristov, Bulgaria). And what if today’s most beautiful geopolitical lesson came from a Bulgarian postman who, in a bid to save his dying small village, advocates the resettlement of masses of Syrian refugees passing through? Despite it having the notion of a fairytale overflowing with humanity, it is not a work of fiction.
- TOWER – using the power and detachment that comes with animation – recounts the events of August 1966, when a shooter made his way to the top floor of the University of Texas tower causing carnage.
- TUTTI A CASA – POWER TO THE PEOPLE? (Lise Birk Pedersen, Denmark). In 2013, Italian populist movement “5 Stelle” won 25% of the votes. A political cataclysm on the heels of a European tidal wave that has the merit of dissecting a crucial question: what happens when those aspiring to a popular revolution find themselves in a position to make decisions? The film is a Danish documentary by Lise Birk Pedersen which proves, once again, that documentary analysis is often one step ahead of the curve.
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
Unforgettable in GOODFELLAS, HANNIBAL and KILL THE MESSENGER, RAY LIOTTA is part of the hallowed American cinema elite. The festival will be paying tribute to him on 5 March (Utopolis Kirchberg) and rejoicing in his performance in STICKY NOTES (Amanda Sharp, USA) before welcoming him the following day in a master class (Cinémathèque) led by Boyd van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter).
Best-selling American author DOUGLAS KENNEDY (The Dead Heart, The Pursuit of Happiness…) will also be gracing us with his presence. He will be hosting a book-signing session at the festival’s Headquarters and explore the links between writing and cinema by introducing a tribute screening at the Cinémathèque of DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Billy Wilder, 1944).
MADE IN / WITH LUXEMBOURG
Between BARRAGE by Laura Schroeder, a Luxembourgish film (Red Lion) selected for the FORUM section in Berlin, the Samsa Film co-production ES WAR EINMAL IN DEUTSCHLAND… by Sam Garbarski shown in a gala screening at the very same Berlinale and MAPPAMUNDI by Bady Minck (Amour Fou) selected for the Sundance Film Festival, Luxembourg’s national colours have been flying high these last few weeks. Now, after their wild rides, all will be descending on Luxembourg for a series of premieres which, once again, will undoubtedly bring together the very best of the profession.
Also, historical drama A REAL VERMEER (Tarantula co-production), and family matters in Amour Fou co-production DIE NACHT DER 1000 STUNDEN (Virgil Widrich), and ETHEL & ERNEST (see below)… And let us not forget the young audience selection, already announced, which includes RICHARD THE STORK and STORM (see young audience programme).
This year’s short film evening will be centred around the following works: 818 (Claude Lahr), Ce qu’il reste de toi (Kevin Dresse), Chernobyl (Franco Dipietro), Fils (Cyrus Neshvad), Sur le Fil (Thierry Besseling, Loïc Tanson) and The Past We Live In (Jérôme Weber).
SPECIAL SCREENINGS…
The OUT-OF-COMPETITION category is where the Cinémathèque and Ciné Utopia get to shine. Every Anglo-Saxon will be familiar with the work of Raymond Briggs. With the collaboration of Studio 352 and Mélusine Productions, Roger Mainwood has put in motion a masterpiece of illustration that is ETHEL & ERNEST. If you enjoyed HIGH RISE last year, you are going to love FREE FIRE, the new Ben Wheatley thriller that reaches an infernal crescendo. HOMO SAPIENS (Nikolaus Geyrhalter) follows the line of sensory experiments presented in previous editions (LEVIATHAN, MANAKAMANA…). From Fukushima to Nagasaki, the author has captured shots of places abandoned by humans to a haunting effect. On the other side of the spectrum, HOUNDS OF LOVE (Ben Young) will plunge you into the nightmare of a teenage girl held captive by a serial killer couple. Arnaud des Pallières will attend for the presentation of ORPHELINE, a film that has enjoyed an impressive festival run. PORTO (Gabe Klinger) relies on an extremely meticulous photography and the unique setting of the eponymous city to bring to the surface the memories of a separated couple. THE AGE OF SHADOWS (Kim Jee-Woon) is one of this year’s Korean sensations. A masterful mind game at the heart of the period of Korea’s occupation by Japan. We once again encounter Rooney Mara, this time in UNA (Benedict Andrews), whose confrontation (years later) with her abuser proves very complex.
… AND WILD CARDS.
Luxembourg’s ARCHIDUC magazine has chosen THE HUMAN SCALE, a Danish documentary by Andreas Dalsgaard, to form the heart of an event in which the relationship between humans and their habitat in large housing estates will be addressed. ORANGE will be regaling its guests with a screening of MONSIEUR & MADAME ADELMAN, a comedy by Nicolas Bedos co-produced by Orange Studio that traces fifty years of marriage. BGL BNP PARIBAS has the honour of hosting the Luxembourgish premiere of TELLE MÈRE, TELLE FILLE, a new comedy by Noémie Saglio that thrusts Juliette Binoche and Camille Cottin into a symbiotic mother-daughter relationship. The UNITED NATIONS and their CINE UNO label will be making their comeback with the screening of LES SAUTEURS, a Danish documentary on migrants held back by the huge border fence in Melilla, a Spanish enclave between Africa and Europe. The film will be preceded by a screening of the short film DEM DEM ! by Pape Bouname Lopy, Marc Recchia and Christophe Rolin (supported by the stART-up foundation of the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte) and followed by a round table.
To manage the anticipated crowds, LuxFilmFest is embracing international practices. All tickets must therefore be purchased either online (via the official website at www.luxfilmfest.lu), at the Cinémathèque, at the festival Headquarters or at one of the points of sale of the Billetterie Centrale network (www.luxembourgticket.lu).
