Festival

A bit of history

A group of Central European cinema-lovers living in Luxembourg once decided to fill in the gap and share some of the most interesting films from their four countries with a view of enriching the local culture scene. The first edition of Festival du Film d'Europe Centrale was held in the Abbaye de Neumünster in October 2008 and was met with a considerable success (over 2300 spectators). In 2009, the Cinémathèque kindly accepted to become the second festival venue and although the number of movie fans attending the projections rose to 3600, the festival still managed to maintain the original laidback and friendly „unofficial" atmosphere. And we hope to keep it that way this year too. 

We are proud to present to you the third edition of the festival under a new name „CinEast" (to be pronounced „ciné east"), with an official competition, a fifth „guest country" Romania, several new venues and features and, again, much richer and more varied programme dotted with numerous special events. However, the festival is still organised by the same bunch of volunteers who dedicate a lot of their free time to make it happen and, hopefully, to bring you some unforgettable experiences and pleasure in discovering new cinema worlds.

Thematic cycles

• "Borderline"

Reflecting upon the subject matters repeatedly featured in the films from previous years of the film festival, our choice of one of this year´s themes was rather obvious - "Borderline". While selecting the movies for CinEast 2010, we wanted to embrace this topic in a more comprehensive manner and explore this issue in more depth.

Much as the region of Central and Eastern Europe is historically well connected and compact, there are many border regions with their mixtures of nationalities and cultures where people still have to deal with particular border-related problems in their day-to-day lives, be it division of families, cross border marriages, immigration, etc. Not to forget the fact that some of the participating countries form the external border of the European Union where specific challenges arise.

But we wanted to go even further in this direction - sometimes we struggle to overcome borders that we created ourselves - psychological blocks from the past, prejudices towards ethnic minorities, a lack of tolerance towards those who do not fit into our standard categories... These borders are intangible and sometimes imaginary but not necessarily easier to overcome than the borders between countries.

We are happy to present you with films from each participating country reflecting the complexities of border issues - both those related to the geographical ones and those we have to deal with on a personal level:

Hranica / The Border by J. Vojtek (Slovakia 2009), 9.11.

The absurdity of a border which divided the village as well as the fates of its people, and thus split a well-integrated community into two totally different worlds.

Morgen by M. Crisan (Romania/France/Hungary 2010), 9.11.

A film about the way a border is perceived by people with different backgrounds and destinies: for some it as a convention, for others it is related to the most important things - their lives, hopes freedom.

Pravidla lži / Rules of Lies by R. Sedláček (Czech Republic 2006), 11.11.

11 people living in a therapeutic community trying to grasp what is the truth and where lying starts. Can some of them step outside their former traps they set themselves?

Nevěrné hry / Faithless Games by M. Pavlátová (Czech Republic 2010), 14.11.

A married couple. She is Czech, he is Slovak and they live on the Slovak-Hungarian border. And more barriers seem to be slowly creeping in.

Delta by K. Mundruczó (Hungary/DE 2008), 16.11.

A relationship on the verge of acceptable moral standards set in one of the least inhabited regions of temperate Europe, the impressive Danube delta between Romania and Ukraine.

Królik po Berlinsku / Rabbit à la Berlin by B. Konopka (Poland/Germany 2009), 17.11.

The main characters of this documentary are wild rabbits that lived peacefully between the Berlin Walls. Events on either side of the border were not particularly affecting them until a certain day in November 1989...

Lea by I. Fíla (Czech Republic/Germany 1996), 19.11.

Love in its strangest form. Two people - a young Slovak girl and an aging German man - dealing with past traumas trying to understand each other´s reality which is in both cases a world on its own.

Ružové sny / Rosy Dreams by D. Hanák (Czechoslovakia 1976), 20.11.

Cultural differences and the common desire to break free from clanship values both foster and destroy a big love. Romeo and Juliet with Gadjos (non-gypsies) instead of Montaques and Gypsies as Capulets.

Essential Killing by J. Skolimowski (Poland/Ireland/Norway/Hungary 2010), 21.11.

An Afghan fugitive is hiding himself and trying to survive in a Polish forest while soldiers are chasing him. This film focuses on impassable borders between a man and a hostile environment.

• "Quest for freedom"

This series of films focuses on the role of music in the wave of opposition to the communist regimes in the early 80's. Not only were workers and intellectuals struggling for freedom but also musicians and young people. "All That I Love"  by Jacek Borcuch portrays a group of teenagers that form a rock band at the time of the big wave of strikes in Gdansk, and "Beats of Freedom" is a documentary presenting the biggest Polish bands in the 80's and their "political" influence. Related to this theme are also the concert of T.Love in Exit07 and the exhibition  "10/10/10/10" in Abbaye de Neumünster (see "Events")