09/02/2024 - Special guests include Wang Bing, Abderrahmane Sissako and Gaspar Noé, while Ira Sachs, Vicky Krieps and Sebastian Koch will serve on the international jury

The 14th edition of LuxFilmFest (Luxembourg City Film Festival), the city’s annual international film gathering, has announced its programme, as well as its guests of honour and jury members. To inaugurate the festivities, Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing is presenting an exhibition that started on 8 February. Scheduled to unspool from 29 February-10 March, the festival will feature a “Carte Blanche” segment for Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, will pay tribute to French director Gaspar Noé with a full retrospective and will host Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps. With an extensive line-up of 123 films and a robust industry programme, comprising workshops, meetings and master classes, the festival promises an enriching cinematic experience.

Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun [+see also:
film review
interview: Nora Fingscheidt
film profile] kicks off LuxFilmFest on 29 February, featuring Saoirse Ronan navigating addiction on Scotland's Orkney Islands, following its Sundance premiere. Viggo Mortensen's The Dead Don’t Hurt [+see also:
film review
interview: Viggo Mortensen
film profile] will screen after the awards ceremony on 9 March, plunging viewers into 19th-century Nevada. Lead actress Vicky Krieps, who has just finished shooting Jim Jarmusch's latest film, presents this feminist western. Meanwhile, Love Lies Bleeding [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Rose Glass, starring Kristen Stewart, wraps up the festival on 10 March.

Eight movies are vying for the festival’s Grand Prix, offering a prize of €10,000: they are Day of the Tiger [+see also:
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interview: Andrei Tănase
film profile] by Andrei Tanase (Romania/France/Greece), Essential Truths of the Lake [+see also:
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film profile] by Lav Diaz (Philippines/France/Portugal/Italy/Switzerland/UK/Singapore), Gasoline Rainbow by Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross (USA), Hoard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luna Carmoon
film profile] by Luna Carmoon (UK), It's Raining in the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon-Daï
film profile] by Paloma Sermon-Daï (Belgium/France), Milk [+see also:
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interview: Stefanie Kolk
film profile] by Stefanie Kolk (Netherlands), Terrestrial Verses by Ali Asgari (Iran) and Toll [+see also:
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film profile] by Carolina Markowicz (Brazil/Portugal).

Six documentaries will contend for the Documentary Prize, valued at €5,000. The festival continues its tradition of tracking the progress of the filmmakers it hosts, awarding Salvadoran-Mexican director Tatiana Huezo the Follow Up label this year. Huezo is presenting The Echo [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] (Mexico/Germany), which delves into the lives of a family detached from society and immersed in nature. The other entries include Embodied Chorus [+see also:
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film profile] by Danielle Davie and Mohamed Sabbah (Lebanon/Germany/Luxembourg), The Eternal Memory by Maite Alberd (Chile/USA), Hollywoodgate [+see also:
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film profile] by Ibrahim Nash'at (Germany/USA), Knit's Island [+see also:
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film profile] by Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L'Helgouac'h (France), and Reas [+see also:
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interview: Lola Arias
film profile] by Lola Arias (Argentina/Switzerland/Germany).

In addition to its two competitions, the festival also offers an Out of Competition segment, a Made in Luxembourg programme showcasing both features and shorts, and a section specifically tailored for young audiences. Two new components are being introduced alongside its film screenings: LUXFILMFEST FABRIC, featuring master classes and workshops, including Industry Days events, and LUXFILMFEST CLUB, serving as a gathering spot for the festival and its partners, facilitating interactions among established and emerging filmmakers in various formats.

The confirmed jury members for this year's competitions include renowned figures from the international film industry. Leading the international jury is US filmmaker Ira Sachs, who is joined by French screenwriter Nathalie Hertzberg, German actor Sebastian Koch, Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps and Danish-French producer Marianne Slot. The documentary jury features experts such as Fanny Barrot, co-general delegate at Clermont-Ferrand; Laure Bonville, programmer at the BFI London Film Festival; Alejandro Díaz Castaño, artistic director of the Gijón International Film Festival; Franck Finance-Madureira, president of Queer Palm; and Valeria Wagner, programmer at the Zürich Film Festival. Additionally, the festival will host a FIPRESCI jury and a 2030 Award jury by Luxembourg Aid & Development.

Finally, the seventh edition of the Virtual Reality Pavilion presents ten groundbreaking works in virtual and augmented reality, offering immersive experiences in diverse settings. From the struggles of segregation in the USA depicted in Noire, La Vie Méconnue de Claudette Colvin by Stéphane Foenkinos and Pierre-Alain Giraud to the historical exploration of France during the Holocaust in Lettres de Drancy by Darren Emerson, viewers can journey through time and space. Additionally, works like Space Explorers – Spacewalkers by Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël and Floating with Spirits by Juanita Onzaga transport audiences to the International Space Station and the poetic universe of the Mazatec indigenous community in Mexico, respectively. The pavilion's sixth VR Day convenes industry professionals and artists worldwide to discuss the future of XR technology. The virtual-reality jury comprises Delphine Munro, head of Arts and Culture at the European Investment Bank; Emily Paige, founder of and producer at ED Films; and Ulrich Schrauth, artistic director of the VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival.