This year’s festival also sees the Film Fund Luxembourg hosting the 18th pavilion at the festival’s international village, where 20 companies and 3 other entitities will be housed. Visitors to the pavilion--including prime minister and minister of communications and media, Xavier Bettel, who plans on visiting 17 May--will be able to learn more about what Luxembourg-based companies are doing in the film world. The Luxembourg City Film Festival, Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) training and Creative Europe - Media support programmes will also be showcased.

Bettel will also be present when Guy Daleiden (Film Fund Luxembourg director) and his Irish counterpart, James Hickey, sign a co-development agreement geared toward female filmmakers.

Films in the official competition

The three Luxembourg co-productions will be shown in the “Un Certain Regard” section of Cannes’ official selection. The category, which encourages young talent and innovation, seeks a different, nontraditional vision and style.

“Chambre 212” (“Room 212”) is a comedy directed by Christophe Honoré, which follows Maria who, after leaving her 20-year marriage, checks into room 212 in a hotel opposite where she has a view of her husband and flat, giving her time to reflect on whether she has made the right decision. The film was co-produced by Luxembourg’s Bidibul Productions.

Also in the running is the animated film “Les Hirondelles de Kaboul” (“The Swallows of Kabul”), directed by Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec and Zabou Breitman and co-produced by Melusine Productions (“Ernest and Célestine”, “Song of the Sea”), which tells the tale of Zunaira and Mohsen, young people in love, during the summer 1998 in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban.

Finally, “Viendra Le Feu” is a film, directed by Oliver Laxe and co-produced by Tarantula, is about a man named Amador Coro, who was accused of causing a fire. After he returns to his Galician village, where he lives with his mother and tries to get back to a peaceful life--until a fire ravages his region.

Directors’ fortnight

The Samsa Films co-production, “The Orphanage”, will also be screened as part of the directors’ fortnight in parallel to the official competition. Directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat, this historical drama is the sequel to “Wolf and Sheep” and is a historical drama incorporating Bollywood. It follows

A number of other films will also be screened at the film market, including “Zero Impunity”, co-produced by a_BAHN, which was shown during thexStand Speak Rise Up event held end-March in Luxembourg City.