Crossing Europe for the ninth time

by Bénédicte Prot

24/04/2012 - Spring is the season of European film festivals. After last week’s Lecce European Film Festival and as goEast draws to an end, Crossing Europe kicks off today in the stunning Austrian town of Linz, an imperial city until the Renaissance. Until Sunday, April 29, the ninth edition of the event directed by Christine Dollhofer will present 146 features, documentaries, and short films from 43 countries, of which 22 in their world avant-première and 96 in their Austrian avant-première.

Today, for the festival’s opening, Linz will screen four films in their Austrian avant-première. David Fisherwill present his personal family documentary, Six Million And One, to inaugurate the festival’s new theatre, the Ursulinensaal, and the Panorama Documentaries section of the festival. Crulic – The Path to Beyond [trailer, film focus] (photo) byAnca Damian will introduce the It's Animated! section as well as the festival’s tribute to the Romanian director. Oscar-winning British filmmaker Andrea Arnold will screen her own raw, realist version of Wuthering Heights [trailer, film focus] (in the Panorama Fiction section), while German-Swiss film Hell [trailer] by Tim Fehlbaum will open the Night Sight section.

The international competition brings together nine films that, each in their own way, illustrate the excellence of Europe’s young auteur cinema and together have already won numerous international awards despite most only being first features. The line-up includes international audience and critics sensation Oslo, August 31st [trailer, film focus] by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, last year’s Cannes selectees Corpo celeste [trailer, film focus] by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher and Avé [trailer, film focus] by Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov, She Monkeys [trailer] by Swedish director Lisa Aschan, German film The River Used to Be a Man [trailer], a final year project by Jan Zabeil for the Postdam Film School, Venice selectee Louise Wimmer [trailer] in which Frenchman Cyril Mennegun follows a poor woman’s daily struggle to maintain her survival and dignity, an unexpected love story in Weekend [trailer] by British filmmaker Andrew Haigh, Polish film It Looks Pretty from a Distance in which artists Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal premiere on the silver screen, and Georgian filmSalt White by Keti Machavariani.

Beyond the sections mentioned above, Crossing Europe has programmed in themed sections (about transitory spaces, work...), shows, debates, as well as a vast section for young local filmmakers and an interdisciplinary platform for artists in residence in Linz.

(Translated from French)