01/10/2021 - A total of seven features from different Eastern European countries form the core of the programme of this year's festival and will be awarded by a jury chaired by Romanian director Radu Jude

From 7-24 October, the 14^th edition of the Central and Eastern European Film Festival CinÉast will be held in Luxembourg. The focus of the festival is on the newest productions from these regions, showing off the potential and the mastery of directors from different generations. Around 110 physical screenings will be held during the gathering in Luxembourg City, but also in other towns across the country, such as Vianden, Dudelange and Esch. As part of its international scope, the festival also includes screenings in the nearby German city of Saarbrücken. In addition to this, it will be possible to watch the majority of the films online as well, on the festival’s own VoD platform, CinÉast Online Cinema, but this will be restricted to within Luxembourg.

Among the 55 feature-length films and 35 shorts we find all manner of genres, ranging from comedy and drama to biopics, coming-of-age tales and documentaries. The opening night will be on 7 October, including a screening of the drama Hive [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Blerta Basholli
interview: Yllka Gashi
film profile] by Blerta Basholli, which earlier this year won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Inspired by real-life events from a dark period in Eastern European history, the film follows the story of the emancipation of a strong woman who fights against the conservative and patriarchal moral concepts of her community. The film is a co-production between Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania and Switzerland.

The main competition includes seven films – namely, the first feature by Serbian director Milica Tomović, Celts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milica Tomovic
film profile]; the episodic, minimalistic, existential drama Forest – I See You Everywhere [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Hungary’s Bence Fliegauf; the tragicomedy Inventory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Darko Sinko
film profile] by Slovenia’s Darko Sinko; the highly suggestive Romanian crime story Miracle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan George Apetri
film profile] by Bogdan George Apetri; the coming-of-age movie Murina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
interview: Gracija Filipovic
film profile] by Kosovar-born, US-based helmer Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović; the satirical social drama Never Gonna Snow Again [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska and Mi…
film profile] by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert; and finally, the drama Saving One Who Was Dead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Václav Kadrnka
film profile] by Czech filmmaker Václav Kadrnka. These seven films will be competing for the Grand Prix, the Special Jury Prize and the Critics’ Prize, and the jury is to be chaired by famed Romanian director Radu Jude.

Among the other films are several productions that have won important prizes at international festivals within the last year, such as Beginning [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili
film profile] by Dea Kulumbegashvili (Best Film at San Sebastián), As Far as I Can Walk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefan Arsenijević
film profile] by Stefan Arsenijević (Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary), Natural Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dénes Nagy
film profile] by Dénes Nagy (Silver Bear at the Berlinale), My Sunny Maad [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michaela Pavlátová
film profile] by Michaela Pavlátová (Jury Prize at Annecy), Stop-Zemlia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kateryna Gornostai
film profile] by Kateryna Gornostai (Crystal Bear at the Berlinale), Brotherhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Montagner
film profile] by Francesco Montagner (Golden Leopard in Cineasti del presente at Locarno) and #dogpoopgirl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Huţuleac
film profile] by Andrei Hutuleac (Best Film at Moscow).

Each year, the festival organises a focus on productions from a specific country. This year, it will be on films from Slovenia and will include six features as well as three shorts. Besides Darko Sinko’s aforementioned Inventory in the competition, the features in this focus are the two comedies Bitch, A Derogatory Term for a Woman [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Tijana Zinajić and Grandma Goes South by Vinci Vogue Anžlovar (which was released in 1991), the love story Sanremo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miroslav Mandić
film profile] by Miroslav Mandić, and the two documentaries Wild Slovenia by Matej Vranić and Antigone – How Dare We! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jani Sever.

The Cinéfocus section is an additional sidebar of the festival that features the work of young Romanian actress Ioana Bugarin, Croatian production company Antitalent and Lithuanian producer Marija Razgute.

Once again this year, alongside the film screenings, the gathering will host several debates and concerts, plus three exhibitions that all deal with the artistic realities, and those specific to the film industry, within the Central and Eastern European countries.

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