18:30
Theo Anthony’s exceptional film is more of a poetic essay than a conventional documentary. It takes a rather different approach to the travails of urban life than “The Human Scale” (see above). Using the problem of rats as the central core of his thesis, Anthony takes “an anthropological look at Baltimore, its inhabitants, both human and animal, and the catastrophic failures of urban society.”
Eric Kohn in IndieWire says that the film “manages to say something real and immediate in a fresh and inventive voice.”
In English
Venue: Cinémathèque, Luxembourg Centre
19:00
Belgian director Sam Garbarski’s latest film, another Luxembourg co-production with Samsa Film, is set in the immediate aftermath of WWII. It stars German leading man Mortz Bleibtreu as a concentration camp survivor who gathers around him a team of conmen to make enough money for them all to get to the United States. However, as he closes in on his goal his shady past catches up with him.
Garbarski has made several Luxembourg co-productions, most famously “Irene Palm”. He will be at the screening.
In German with English subtitles
Venue: Utopolis, Luxembourg-Kirchberg
20:00
The festival hosts another showing by Open Screen of films submitted to the group by fresh directors, often experimenting with their first efforts in film making. The group does not set any criteria regarding style or genre, nor do they make any preselection of the films. The result is a mixed bag that can be packed with surprises. Entrance is free.
Various languages
Venue: Quartier General, place de la Constitution.
20:30
Julia Ducournau’s fascinatingly uncomfortable coming-of-age cannibal story is also a nuanced exploration of sibling relationships. Garance Marillier stars as a first year medical student, a virgin and vegetarian, who comes to crave the taste of flesh following some extreme induction rituals forced on the freshmen by older students including her older sister, played by Ella Rumpf. One of the best at this year's festival.
In French (English subtitles)
Venue: Cinémathèque, Luxembourg Centre
21:00
A film that has divided critics and even the festival programmers like no other, Tim Sutton’s “Dark Night” alludes to the mass shooting at a cinema in Aurora Colorado at the premier of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” Batman movie. Sutton’s film has been compared in style to Gus van Sant’s “Elephant” (which referenced the Columbine massacre), and he employs what Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge calls a “deliberately ambiguous and highly elliptical style”. The result is a chilling yet non-sensational look at suburban America and gun culture.
In English
Venue: Utopia, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg