27/12/2012 - A new body, D'Filmakademie, has been founded to help organise the Luxembourg national film awards, the Lëtzebuerger Filmpräis, and to promote Luxembourg cinema

D'Filmakademie was born. The new institution has been founded as a Luxembourg equivalent of similar "film academies" in France (L'Académie des Césars) and Belgium (L' Académie André Delvaux) that hand out the national film awards and promote and try to increase the visibility of national productions both at home and abroad.

The Luxembourg Film Academy was founded by the Association of Film Technicians, ALTA, the Association of Film Directors and Screenwriters, LARS, the Actors Association and the Association of Film Producers (ULPA).

The members of the academy will vote for the nominees and winners of the Lëtzebuerger Filmpräis, the national film awards, in the awards different categories such as Best Film, Best Co-Production and Best Director.

Beyond the members of the founding associations, the Academy has invited everyone involved in the Luxembourg film industry to become a part of D'Filmakademie, including film teachers and critics, festival programmers and cinema owners.

Producer Claude Waringo from Samsa Film has been elected the first president of the academy, while actor and former Shooting Star Jules Werner has been named secretary. Both worked together on the current local box-office hit Doudege wénkel, which is approaching a remarkable 20,000 admissions in a country of only 500,000 inhabitants.

Boyd van Hoeij