(L-R) Geoff Thompson, Festival Director; Jean McDonald, Irish Ambassador to Luxembourg; Credit: Ali Sahib

On Sunday 21 September 2025, the 16th British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2025 Autumn Edition came to a close at Ciné Utopia in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg.

The closing film on Sunday evening was Re-Creation, an eagerly awaited new drama based on the real-life murder case of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier (killed in Ireland in 1996). Directed by Jim Sheridan and David Merriman and starring Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps, among others, the film is set in a jury room in the context of a fictional court case. It pays homage to 12 Angry Men, with its own fresh take.

Speaking at the closing event, festival director Geoff Thompson noted that this Autumn Edition of BIFFL had screened a total of fourteen feature films across a variety of genres, with five documentaries and seven short films, "showcasing contrasting ways of storytelling". There was also the launch of the third edition of the Young Filmmakers Competition, plus the screening of Nina Agostini and Salomé-Ange Wilk from Lenster Lycée's fifteen-minute documentary Echoes of Galway, which won the previous edition and "explored music in our lives".

Geoff Thompson noted that the film festival saw six sold-out screenings, with others close to being full houses too. He noted: "Our audiences have been most encouraging and complimentary, with plenty of questions for our special guests". On Sunday evening, these included Re-Creation producer Fabrizio Maltese (Tarantula), line producer Solveig Harper and cast members Claire Johnston, Gilbert Johnston, Elena Spautz and Maja Juric, with whom there was a Q&A after the screening.

"Putting together such a festival edition requires a huge number of components, moving parts and people, and I would like to thank everyone involved, from all perspectives," said Geoff Thompson, also for their support in addressing "a few issues behind the scenes".

He noted that audience numbers have "remained on a par with last year, which has seen a significant increase in pre-pandemic numbers", adding: "This shows how much an appetite there is for British and Irish cinema and learning about the making of such films from our special guests."

In her official speech, Irish Ambassador Jean McDonald praised Geoff Thompson for having curated a "brilliant programme", featuring "films that have entertained us but also challenged us in lots of different ways, which is very important and shows the power of film. And most importantly, showcases the best of the incredible audiovisual talent behind and on the screen that we have in Ireland and in Britain." She added that BIFFL has managed to "carve out a very special platform here in Luxembourg to showcase British and Irish cinema", which is why the Irish government remains happy to support the festival year-on-year through the Emigrant Support Programme.

The ambassador stressed that "Irish people love the cinema" and shared that the film, TV and animation sector is now worth more than €690 million per year in Ireland and supports (directly or indirectly) almost 12,000 jobs: "It's not just the cultural output that we appreciate, it's also really valuing the important contribution it makes to the industry and as an industry in Ireland". She also highlighted the bilateral Luxembourg-Ireland agreement that has "facilitated a number of really incredible co-productions in the audiovisual space over the last number of years, which is yet another example of the great cooperation and great bilateral relationship that exists between Ireland and Luxembourg". Re-Creation is one such co-production.

Subsequently, Tomas Einarsson of the Luxembourg Film Critics Association (ALPC), who, together with Raul Reis, watched the twelve films in competition, announced the winners of the Critics' Award: Dragonfly, a "remarkable" film with great acting which addresses the theme of loneliness among the elderly - "a poignant issue addressed powerfully in Dragonfly". The press jury felt this film "exemplifies the very best of storytelling". They also gave special mention to Spilt Milk.

For the Audience Award, Geoff Thompson noted that voting was again "incredibly close", with more than 500 votes received. The Top 3 films were as follows:

  • Mrs Robinson, "maintaining the strong showing of documentaries", in 3rd place;
  • Sunphlowers, the penultimate film, screened on Saturday evening, in 2nd place;
  • and the "wonderful" 1980s-set inner city Dublin drama Spilt Milk, with the "amazing" young actor Cillian Sullivan, who attended the Friday evening screening, in 1st place.

The festival organisers also drew out two winning voting slips for the Audience Prize, with the winners respectively receiving a hamper from Home from Home and a magnum of crémant from Barnard-Massard.

BIFFL will return to Luxembourg cinemas with its 2026 Spring Edition, from 19 to 22 March, for which the organisers have already lined up "some really interesting films". Before then, they hope to screen a number of avant-premieres through their collaboration with Kinepolis and Ciné Utopia, with Plainclothes already confirmed for Tuesday 7 October, plus a screening of Sanatorium, a Ukrainian-language co-production between Ireland, Ukraine and France (Ireland’s entry into next year’s Oscars), on Friday 10 October, in collaboration with the CinEast festival.

The speeches and awards were followed by the official closing screening of Re-Creation, which will hit Luxembourg cinemas on Wednesday 24 September 2025. After the screening, there was a Q&A session and a reception, hosted by the Embassy of Ireland in Luxembourg.