The programme for this year’s festival’s Luxembourg City Film Festival (22 February to 4 March) has just been unveiled. The bill is packed with great films, from the opening night’s Oscar-nominated Luxembourg co-production “The Breadwinner” right through to the closing film, Wes Anderson’s latest foray into animation, “Isle Of Dogs”.
Other major films on the bill include Armando Iannucci’s brutal satire “The Death Of Stalin”, and the latest film from Gus Van Sant, “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot”, is a moving and entertaining biopic of wheelchair-bound, alcoholic cartoonist John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix).
Competition
None of the aforementioned is eligible for the feature film competition, which is loaded with brilliant new films from around the world. Among the films the international jury will have to choose from is “Foxtrot”, which won the Silver Lion at Venice last autumn. The Israeli film is a stunning piece of cinema that examines grief and guilt, chance and tragedy, all set against the boredom of young soldiers at a desert checkpoint. Then there is the languid Danish film “Holiday”, which simmers with under the surface menace that is just waiting to explode.
“Free And Easy” is set in the bleak, cold, deserted north east of China, but is nevertheless peppered with dark humour and a series of amoral characters, small time crooks and corrupt cops. Australian outback western “Sweet Country” is a beautifully photographed film based on true events about the unethical treatment of the Aboriginal people and a posse chase across some tough terrain. Superbly constructed Iranian film “Disappearance” also involves a desperate journey as two young lovers seeking hospital treatment are caught up in a spiral of lies in the face of unbending bureaucracy and strict moral codes.
The excellent “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” is a revenge western set in Indonesia, but is also a road movie, a thriller and a surreal ghost story. Another road movie of sorts, “Lean On Pete” is also a bittersweet coming of age story set in the world of second-string horse racing. The harrowing Romanian family drama “Pororcora”, directed by Constantin Popescu, is a devastating look at the unexplained disappearance of a child and the affect it has on the parents. Marital strain of a completely different and absurd sort is the subject of Babis Makridis’s “Pity”, from a script by Efthimis Filippou, who wrote “The Lobster” and “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer”. Also in competition is Govinda van Maele’s Luxembourg film “Gutland”, a stunning first feature set in rural Luxembourg and starring actress of the moment Vicky Krieps alongside Frederick Lau as a stranger who lands in a village that has plenty of secrets.
On Friday Delano will take a look at the documentary competition and special events at the festival.
Luxembourg City Film Festival takes place from 22 February-4 March at the Utopia cinema, Cinémathèque, Kinepolis Kirchberg, Casino-Luxembourg, Rotondes, Mudam, Neimënster.