06/10/2022 - This year's line-up will feature a selection of new film productions from Eastern Europe, seven of which will be competing against each other, with several awards up for grabs

The 15^th edition of CinÉast, the Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg, will take place from 6-23 October. After two hybrid editions in 2020 and 2021, the event is back to mainly unspooling in the cinemas, with around 120 physical screenings of 55 features and 45 short films on the agenda. The venues are cinemas in the city of Luxembourg as well as in Vianden, Dudelange and Esch. Again, there is a collaboration in place with the nearby German city of Saarbrücken. Moreover, the festival is maintaining its in-house online VoD platform and will make some of the films accessible via the CinÉast Online Cinema, but once again, this will only be for viewers in Luxembourg.

The film productions being shown in Luxembourg this year come from 20 different countries, with a focus on the former Eastern Bloc. As a common thread, the festival has chosen the topic of “communities”, which not only encompasses films, but also a photo exhibition. Besides that, another focus is on Ukrainian films: the special sidebar will show feature-length and short films from Ukraine, such as Luxembourg, Luxembourg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Lukich
film profile] by Antonio Lukich, Klondike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maryna Er Gorbach
film profile] by Maryna Er Gorbach, Pamfir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
film profile] by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Butterfly Vision [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maksym Nakonechnyi
film profile] by Maksym Nakonechnyi, How Is Katia? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christina Tynkevych
film profile] by Christina Tynkevych and the documentary One Day in Ukraine [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Volodymyr Tykhyy. The focus also consists of several debates, two concerts and a dive into Ukrainian culture through the showcasing of typical dishes. The festival has even launched its own charity project called CinEast4Ukraine, which all of the income will go to.

As it happens, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, the second feature by Antonio Lukich – who presented his first feature, My Thoughts Are Silent [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], at CinÉast in 2019 – will also open this 15^th edition. The comedy, which tells the story of two very different brothers, previously took part in this year's Venice Film Festival, in the Orizzonti section. The opening gala will be enlivened by a concert by Czech band MYDY.

This fits in perfectly with the second focus of the festival, which is dedicated to the Czech Republic. Eleven films from the country will show how the nation’s cinema has developed and flourished in the hands of the youngest generations, taking after acclaimed names such as Miloš Forman, Jiří Menzel and Věra Chytilová. The programme will showcase productions that have already been screened at international festivals, such as Il Boemo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petr Vaclav
film profile] by Petr Václav (shown at the San Sebastián Film Festival) and two titles from Karlovy Vary: Beata Parkanová’s second film, The Word [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Beata Parkanová
film profile], and Borders of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tomasz Wiński
film profile] by Polish director Tomasz Wiński, who is studying and working in the Czech Republic. Some of the other films in this strand are Occupation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michal Nohejl
film profile] by Michael Nohejl, The Last Race by Tomáš Hodan, The Visitors [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Veronika Lišková, Every Single Minute [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erika Hníková
film profile] by Erika Hníková, Zátopek [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Ondříček
film profile] by David Ondříček and Arvéd by Vojtěch Mašek, which will celebrate its international premiere at CinÉast.

As for the core of the programme, the main competition, it is composed of seven films: the docu-fiction 107 Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Kerekes
film profile] by Slovak director Peter Kerekes, set in a Ukrainian prison; a story of two bodybuilders, Gentle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: László Csuja and Anna Nemes
film profile] by Anna Eszter Némes and László Csuja from Hungary; How Is Katia? by Ukraine’s Christina Tynkevych; the drama Moja Vesna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sara Kern
film profile] by Slovenian-Australian director Sara Kern; the drama Occupation by Michal Nohejl; Other People [+see also:
film review
interview: Aleksandra Terpińska
film profile] by Aleksandra Terpińska; and a drama set in a Romanian village, R.M.N. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Judith State
film profile] by Cristian Mungiu. These seven movies will be competing for the Grand Prix, the Special Jury Prize and the Critics’ Prize. The international jury comprises Macedonian director Teonora Strugar Mitevska, who will preside over the jury, as well as Luxembourgish actor Luc Schiltz, Czech director Erika Hníková, Luxembourgish producer Marion Guth and Polish director Dawid Nickel.

More than 30 international guests will attend the festival, and once again this year, alongside the film screenings, the gathering will host several debates and concerts, as well as three exhibitions that all deal with the artistic and film-industry realities in or related to Central and East European countries.

More information about this year’s programme can be found on the festival’s website.