On Monday 6 October 2025, the organisers of CinEast announced additional details of the programme for Luxembourg’s upcoming Central and Eastern European Film Festival.
The eighteenth edition of CinEast is set to take place from Friday 10 to Sunday 26 October 2025 and the organisers have revealed that the festival will include five Luxembourgish co-productions, fourteen feature films and twelve short films from Poland and a special programme dedicated to Ukraine, which will include a debate featuring Luxembourg’s Minister for Gender Equality and Diversity, Yuriko Backes, and Ukrainian filmmaker and soldier, Alisa Kovalenko.
Luxembourgish co-productions:
⁃ Dracula by Radu Jude, co-produced by Paul Thiltges Distributions and Samsa Film;
⁃ Winter of the Crow by Kasia Adamik, co-produced by Iris Productions;
⁃ Thelma’s Perfect Birthday by Reinis Kalnaellis, co-produced by Paul Thiltges Distributions;
⁃ Sujip by Gintarė Parulytė, a short fiction film co-produced by Red Lion;
⁃ Whispering Forest by Katarzyna Kot, produced by Iris Productions.
Luxembourg will also be represented on the CinEast juries, with producer Adrien Chef and actress Sascha Ley joining the International jury, while journalist Valentin Maniglia will serve on the Press jury. The Young Talents jury will include four film and audiovisual students from the Lycée des Arts et Métiers. In addition, Lithuanian-Luxembourgish filmmaker and actress Gintarė Parulytė will lead a masterclass on the art of screenwriting.
Focus on Poland:
⁃ Chopin: A Sonata in Paris, by Michał Kwieciński;
⁃ The Altar Boys, by Piotr Domalewski;
⁃ Abakamania a documentary by Róża Fabjanowska et Sławek Malcharek presented in collaboration with Mudam;
⁃ Winter of the Crow by Kasia Adamik;
⁃ The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska;
⁃ Letters from Wolf Street by Arjun Talwar;
⁃ Lampo, the Traveling Dog by Magdalena Nieć;
⁃ In-Laws 3 by Kuba Michalczuk;
⁃ The Best of Polish Shorts, curated by the Krakow Film Foundation;
⁃ The Hourglass Sanatorium, by Wojciech Jerzy Has.
The festival team has also prepared musical concerts as part of the festival. These include Pawlik & Pawlik Duo Featuring Jeff Herr (Friday 17 October at Neimënster) and Bubliczki (Friday 24 October at Rotondes). There will also be two programmes for children, a Polish evening, a posters exhibition and the opportunity for attendees to meet several special guests, including Małgorzata Szumowska, Kasia Adamik, Eliza Kubarska, Katarzyna Kot, Róża Fabjanowska, Sławek Malcharek, Michał Englert as well as producers Mariusz Włodarski, Stanisław Zaborowski et Katarzyna Ozga.
Special Ukraine Programme:
⁃ My Dear Théo by Alisa Kovalenko, presented as part of the “Around Ukraine” cine-debate featuring Minister Yuriko Backes;
⁃ 2000 Meters to Andriivka by Academy Award winner Mstyslav Chernov;
⁃ Militantropos by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi;
⁃ Sanatorium by Irish director Gar O’Rourke (Ireland’s Oscar submission);
⁃ Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin.
The Ukraine programme also includes a special jazz ciné-concert by Ukrainian musicians Misha Kalinin & Roksana Smirnova with the silent film In Spring by Mikhail Kaufman [Sunday 12 October at Neimënster].
The festival will again support the CinEast4Ukraine charity project, aiming to raise funds to assist victims of the war in Ukraine, after last year’s edition collected €10,500 to finance an ambulance.
More details on the festival programme are available on www.cineast.lu.
