Charity

For the third consecutive year, the festival will support a specific charity project. Thanks to your contributions last year, we collected enough money to rebuild the only children´s playground in a small village in Poland completely destroyed by the floods. Thank you!

Since one of the themes of this year´s festival edition is "On the Margin of Society", we would like to draw your attention to a charity project from this area. As in the previous years, you can put your donations in one of our piggy banks. They will be publicly smashed on the last day of the festival (23/10) and your donations will be immediately forwarded to the organisation in need. You can make a difference!

Therapeutic community in Bunovo (Bulgaria) - "Novo Nachalo" (New Beginning) - building renovation

Project Novo Nachalo (New Beginning) was launched in Bunovo, a small village in Bulgaria in 2005, with the purpose of offering rehabilitation to people with addictive behaviour towards psycho-active substances, gambling, alcohol and the Internet. The rehabilitation process consists in two phases: a nine-month residential treatment in a therapeutic community in the village of Bunovo, aimed at guiding the addicts towards understanding their addiction and finding a way out, and a six-month therapy in a daily, nonresidential centre offered to those who successfully complete the first phase.

The three-storey, 400 m2 building of the residential therapeutic community in Bunovo where the first phase of treatment takes place offers accommodation and rehabilitation to 20 people at a time. Currently, with the rainy season and cold winter coming up, it is in need of repair, specifically of better isolation to provide basic comfort and reduce the costs for heating which could be achieved by replacing the old windows and window frames.

As the financial resources to maintain the building are limited and State funding is insufficient, we would be happy if you could spare a few coins for this meaningful form of help. As the entrance fee to the festival screenings is only rather symbolic, we encourage the festival-goers to make a voluntary donation to the piggy banks at the entrance to the screening venues and support the project described above. You can make a difference!

What will happen to your contributions?
After the screening of the last film of the festival in Cinémathèque (23/10), the piggy banks will be publicly destroyed and the contributions counted by volunteers.

How can you be sure the money is used for the purpose mentioned?
In terms of scope, we strictly aimed at selecting such a charity project where your involvement can be well seen, documented and stand out, just like last year, as opposed to simply transferring money to some NGO generic bank account. We will keep you posted through our website and Facebook on all developments after the funds have been transferred to the recipient, just like in previous years (photos, diligent reporting etc.).

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us at festival@cineast.lu.

The contributions of the audience amounted to 536 euros, to which was added the sum of 70 euros from a special charity action. The organiser of the festival, polska.lu asbl decided to double that amount and the total amount which will be transferred to the "Novo Nachalo" community in Bulgaria is 1200 euros. You will find more information on the actual use of that amount on this page in a few weeks.

News from Novo Nachalo (February 2012): first half of the money spent (see invoice) on new windows and door (see photo 1 & photo 2)

"Become a Santa!"
You can also put a smile on the face of one of the children suffering from a serious heart disease in hospitals or hospices in Poland by donating a toy (or a book, a game, etc., anything that is just taking up space in your kid´s room) during the Kids Show on 15 October in salle Dune in Abbaye de Neumünster. Your contributions will be delivered to Poland after the festival and will surprise the sick children under the Christmas tree in December. Maybe your little ones will be happy to exchange their unused toys for some sweets!
The yearly charity action "Become a Santa" is organised by LuxCordis asbl (www.luxcordis.org) and is supported by the CinEast festival for the second time.