The Luxembourg City Film Festival honours Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope
- The festival came to a close with the international premiere of Terrence Malick’s Song to Song
The seventh edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival ended with a major “coup” on Sunday night, when Terrence Malick’s brand-new Song to Song had its first international showing at Luxembourg’s Utopolis complex, just days after its world-premiere gala showing at Austin’s SXSW festival.
Prizes for the festival were handed out on Friday night, prior to a showing of France’s 2017 Berlin opener, Django [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Etienne Comar
film profile], directed by Etienne Comar. The Grand Prix went to Berlin’s winner of Best Director, Aki Kaurismäki, whose The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile] was lauded by press and public alike. The Best Documentary Award was given to another Berlin-screened film, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], while the Luxembourg Critics' Association (ALPC) awarded the Bulgarian tragi-comedy Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile], directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov.
With its seventh edition breaking audience records (a total of 29,300 visitors, a whopping 34% increase over last year’s attendance levels), the LuxFilmFest has become a firm fixture in Luxembourg’s year-round cultural offering. Organisational hiccups were kept to an absolute minimum, the screenings at the three different venues went smoothly, and both a Virtual Reality Pavilion and a Wes Anderson exhibition proved to be magnets for the public.
The selection of films, whether in or out of competition, encompassing documentaries, children’s movies, and Luxembourg productions and/or co-productions, was lauded as the best ever, although during the final days of the festival, a minor controversy erupted in the media about the glaring absence of Luxembourg-produced films in the gathering’s competition, fuelled by several local producers who felt short-changed this year, after last year’s edition of the LuxFilmFest had seen the selection (in competition) of Pol Cruchten’s Voices from Chernobyl [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Terence Davies’ Sunset Song [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Terence Davies
film profile] (a co-production) and the acclaimed documentary Eldorado [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], directed by Rui Eduardo Abreu, Thierry Besseling and Loïc Tanson. Nevertheless, a total of eight films made in Luxembourg had their local premieres at the festival: Ethel & Ernest [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (animation), Richard the Stork [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (animation), Storm [+see also:
trailer
film profile], A Real Vermeer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Barrage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Schroeder
film profile], Bye Bye Germany [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], MappaMundi [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Night of a 1000 Hours [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Virgil Widrich
film profile].
At the closing of the event, government and local sponsors reaffirmed their support for the LuxFilmFest, the eighth edition of which will be held from 22 February-4 March 2018.
Here is the complete awards list:
Grand Prix
The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile] - Aki Kaurismäki (Finland/Germany)
Documentary Award
I Am Not Your Negro [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Raoul Peck (France/United States/Belgium/Switzerland)
Audience Award
Dark Night - Tim Sutton (USA)
ALPC Critics' Award
Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile] - Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece)
Special Mention
I Am Not Madame Bovary - Feng Xiaogang (China)
Youth Jury Award
Sámi Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] - Amanda Kernell
Kids Jury Award
Auf Augenhöhe [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Evi Goldbrunner, Joachim Dollhopf (Germany)
Kids' Festival Favourite
Richard the Stork [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Tobias Genkel, Reza Memari (Germany/Belgium/Luxembourg/Norway)
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