Discoveries from Luxembourg World Cinema

When a girl raised by wolves is found in the woods, she must learn to forge her own path as those around her try to exploit her for their own purposes.

Geppetto the carpenter carves the object of his hidden desires out of a log: a puppet that will keep him company and will be like a son to him. He will call him Pinocchio. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the puppet moves, as if by magic, and is gifted with a life on its own.

Holly is a young, courageous hedgehog, but woefully sheltered by her overprotective Dad. Walter is an overworked, exhausted rabbit with a few dozen kids of his own, who just wants a change in his predictable routine. When this unlikely duo crashes into each other’s lives, things take a drastic turn. After a bump to the head Walter now believes that he is Sir Balderdash the Great – a hero, a warrior, a legend. While Holly, who is just thrilled to be out of the house, gets swept up in Walter's concussion fuelled fantasy.

The musically highly gifted maid Elsie, who longs for a career as a musician, is forced into marriage with Jacob, a young stable boy who dreams of owning his own horse. Both have to learn that they can only escape their lack of opportunities if they team up.

After a failed armed attack during which she abandons her companions, Hélène flees into the forest and meets Catherine, a mysterious alter ego, a carnivorous and tempting alter ego. This double will take her to a fantastic valley, where metamorphoses, poisonous powers and great upheavals will soon shake up the order of things. Hélène will have to revisit her choices and the moral, political and human dilemmas that circumscribe them.

On the island of Crete, a day-dreamy boy named Icarus befriends a mysterious creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull named Asterion (aka the Minotaur). When the King asks Icarus’ father, a famous inventor, to work on a secret project, Icarus realizes his new friend is in danger.

Despite adversity, Sana wants her twins to have a spring vacation, but all her plans fall through. They secretly decide to stay in her former in-laws' villa on the Riviera, without telling anyone. Six days of sunshine that mark the end of innocence.

A new light on American filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Hollywood’s greatest director, offering a unique perspective on his work and digging into his personal influences.

When the ambitious Philip takes over the running of the family business from his father, he finds himself confronted by the mysterious reappearance of his dead ancestors. In the course of a long night, during which there is a murder, an illicit love affair and a game with false identities, Philip uncovers a closely guarded family secret.

In the mid-1800s, twelve year old Hélène manages to flee from an isolated patriarchal community in Luxembourg. Years later, she returns in disguise, determined to seek revenge on the family that killed her parents.

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Jewish aesthete Cioma, 21, does not let anyone take away his joy of life, especially not the Nazis. In 1942, he has to find new ways to make his living in Berlin and escape deportation. In the process he discovers his talent for forgery: not only with passports, but also his own identity.

Bits of found film and different types of animation illustrate a classic chase scene scenario: A woman is abducted and a man comes to her rescue, but during their escape they find themselves in the enemy's secret headquarters.

I can tell you about my father's voyage on his boat, because I was with him all the time. It was a rather strange voyage, with no ocean or sea crossing, not even a lock to pass through... The boat stayed at home and so did my father. But that does not mean there was no adventure...

Pascale leads a lonely life with her adult sons François and Thierry at a rural estate subsidized by her ex-husband's alimony payments. When Pascale falls for neighbor Jan, she makes plans to move in with him. But Pascale's twin sons -- loafers who treat her like a servant and refuse to accept the responsibilities of adulthood -- won't let her go. The family remains locked in a stalemate until someone makes a startling move.

In the United States of America, lobbyists, corporations and billionaires invest millions of dollars to ensure that a suitable candidate, one inclined to support their personal ambitions and economic projects, wins an election, which inevitably affects everything, from the selection of local officials to presidential elections, creates countless conflicts of interest and undermines what supposedly used to be a model democracy.

Belgrade, 1996. During the student demonstrations against the Milosevic regime, 15-year-old Stefan leads his own revolution in the heat of events: accepting the unacceptable, seeing his mother as an accomplice in the crime and finding, despite the love he feels for her, the strength to confront her.

Three moody geraniums take control over their fate and plan their escape from the windowsill they spent their entire boring life on.

Early one summer morning a young man, with a secret stashed away in a duffel bag, emerges from the forest. In a nearby village he asks around for work, but the farmers, suspicious to the point of hostility, are not very forthcoming. Only when Lucy, the mayor’s unruly daughter, takes a liking to him, does the village change its attitude: he is promptly offered a job as a farmhand and a caravan to live in. As time passes and he is gradually integrated into the community, it emerges that he’s not the only one with a past to hide. Something sinister is lurking under the immaculate surface of this picturesque little world - and it is slowly drawing him in.

Pee is a cute little worker bear. Pupù, on the other hand, is a greedy and chubby little bird while Rosmarina is an affectionate bunny. The three little heroes find themselves having to look for the perpetrator of a theft of musical scores. To identify the culprit, they will have to deal with some great operas, transforming them into tasty and brilliant parodies.

Renart is a sly fox who can always chit-chat his way out of sticky situations. In his quest for an elusive treasure, Renart has ample opportunity to demonstrate how a quick mind can triumph over brute strength.

After Holly seems to have predicted a deadly school fire, all eyes are on her. Her teacher invites her to volunteer in the grieving community. Holly gives peace, warmth, and hope. Soon people start demanding more and more of her.

October 1962, the height of the Cuban missile crisis… Norbi, 12, lives in a small industrial town typical of southern Luxembourg. His father, very authoritarian, owns a bookstore-stationery that also serves as a store for religious items. That year, Norbi will be confronted with mysteries about sexuality, religion and war. Norbi will discover a new world, for him, it's time to show that he is no longer a child. Will Norbi obey?

Isabel and Clara are growing up in a time of terror. It is 1492, and Spain has decreed that all Jews must either convert to Catholicism, go into exile or face trial and execution. Although forcibly baptized, the sisters are chased through Christendom until they arrive in Venice. It is in this great maritime empire, where opulence rhymes with tolerance, that Isabel organizes secret passages for refugees fleeing the Inquisition while Clara falls in love with a Venetian noble, Paolo Zane. Isabel intends for her family to go to Istanbul, the only place where Jews can live freely, but Clara is reluctant to leave. She challenges Isabel's authority and is prepared to break her family ties and sacrifice her faith for love. Caught in this battle of wills is Clara's daughter, Victoria, who finds she is about to be married into the same faith that murdered her father.

From an early age, songs and fairytales convinced Zelma that Love would solve all her problems as long as she abided by societal expectations of how a girl should act. But as she grew older something didn't seem right with the concept of love: the more she tried to conform, the more her body resisted. A story about the acceptance of the inner female rebellion.

Doctor Peter Husak introduces the American Jack Carver to his friend, nurse Kate, and it's love on first sight. But when she learns, in a dramatic incident, that Jack's a C.I.A. agent, she leaves him and marries Husak instead. Together, they go into a war area in Nagorny Karabach for a relief organization.

Wang Bing concludes his monumental Youth trilogy in expansive fashion, giving ever wider scope to the lives of migrant workers in Zhili’s textile factories as they plan to go to their remote hometowns to visit their families and celebrate the festivities for New Year’s break.

Ankara, 1999. Arzu takes one call after another in the sex call centre where she works. When an earthquake hits Istanbul, a young client she spoke to earlier phones her back, begging her to rescue him from the rubble.

In an undisclosed location and time, in the land of 1001 nights, the law dictates that the Emperor must take a new wife if his current Empress does not bear a son within seven years of marriage. At the celebration Ball of their sixth wedding anniversary, the Emperor (MAX BEESLEY - Torque) and his faithful manservant, Chamberlain (JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS - Vanity Fair, Bend It Like Beckham, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead) begin the covert operation to find and prepare a virgin candidate to become the new Empress.A suitable young woman, Sabah (LETICIA DOLERA) is secretly transported into an isolated wing in the Imperial Palace. In this prison of fairytale rooms, she is tutored by the Masters and spied upon by the Emperor and Chamberlain. Should the current Empress (ROSANA PASTOR) conceive, everyone in the secret wing will be executed.

After losing part of her memory, Maret, 44, sets out to find out who she used to be. She learns about the many different life paths she followed, in none of which anything was ever really achieved. A profoundly unhappy person in a never-ending, headlong rush. A doctor on the island of Lanzarote offers to put this restlessness to an end through brain surgery. A promise of peace and satisfaction. Will Maret proceed with the surgery that would take away part of her being - or not?

When Emma has to leave her picture-perfect life for a women's shelter, her unlikely friendship with a ragtag group of women pushes them all into a fight to take back their power.

Jessica Comley is an American agent of the U.S. Border Patrol on the Arizona-Mexico border. In this unforgiving desert, she is proud and determined to defend America against drug traffickers and illegal immigrants by any means necessary.

In this enveloping second part of the Youth trilogy, shot between 2015 and 2019, Wang Bing deepens his vérité portrait of a generation struggling to survive on meager wages amidst a nation’s economic expansion, emphasizing the distrustful, increasingly combative relationship between workers and management.

Yvonne loses her mind and confuses her teenage granddaughter, Manon, with her deceased daughter. Manon plays the role of the mother she never knew, reviving her grandmother's years of feminist activism. In this troubled game, Manon will learn to become a woman.

Former bank robber Linda (82) longs for her turbulent past. When one day her former partner-in-crime Tony (80) reappears, she is faced with a choice: to do one last job or to send him to hell.

Unable to meet all the demands of his job and family anymore, Mathieu feels he's in a mid-life crisis and hurriedly leaves for the forest. His relatives are left by themselves, faced with his sudden departure and their choices.

Marie-Luce Bison, 14 years old, is raised by her father in a cheerful boarding house for seniors where he is the director. It is soon the costume party of her new college: her father does not want her to go ... and anyway, she is not invited. But pushed by Albert, her 80-year-old best friend, Marie-Luce crashes the party, dressed as a man. That evening, everyone takes her for a boy... a boy who is looked at and who pleases. She then decides to invent a male double named Leo to finally live her teenage life. Of course, at home, the relationship with her father becomes complicated.

From his childhood in Russia to his last days in California, the tumultuous ininerary and bathed in melancholy of the legendary pianist and composer Serguei Rachmaninov. This film is based on the legend that Rachmaninoff received a bouquet of lilacs from an unknown admirer after every performance. He emigrated to the United States, and after an interval, began to receive the mysterious lilacs again.

Back-to-school! For troublemaker Toto, it’s the best playground for fooling around. When a sculpture collapses during the opening of a museum, Toto is immediately blamed. To prove his innocence, Toto has no other option but making a pact with Igor, the school nerd. In exchange for his help, Toto will help Igor being cool. The unlikely duo turns into little detectives. A fun and exciting adventure begins…

In order to save tiny Luxembourg from a cosmic catastrophe, a civil servant in a midlife crisis has to find back his lost superpowers and face his biggest fear: his family.

Glenn Gould is a global star for whom everything is going according to plan and who seems to be able to do whatever he wants. In a music studio near Central Park, he meets photographer Eleanor Weismann, the pregnant wife of composer Georg Weisman, and falls head over heels in love for the first time in his life.

With the American Dream set in their minds, two pathetic gangsters, one Luxembourgish, the other German, go through various trials and tribulation in the South of Luxembourg.

In the mid-1970s, Rico, a 9-year-old Haitian boy, was brutally torn from his native land along with Erzulie, his mother, to a strange planet called Canada. Since their arrival, a distance seems to have grown between mother and son. To regain the love of his mother, Rico will have to understand this New World populated by individuals with strange habits and customs. Fortunately for him, he can count on Kana, his imaginary friend who comes straight out of Haitian mythology.

The world of 10-year old Nina has been in turmoil since her father lost his job. Despite weeks of strike, his factory closed down. The manager had tampered with the accounts and precipitated its collapse. But rumour has it that a nest-egg remains hidden somewhere in the factory. Nina and her friend Mehdi spring into action to help Nina’s dad out. This tale of our times, which is also a coming-of-age story, stages the interaction between the concerns of children and those of adults.

A family man torn between the love for his family, the boundaries of religion and the freedom to choose whom to love.

Dark City, Texas. A terrible bandit named Jim Parasite runs an illegal whiskey distillery. Parasite wants to become the biggest and has therefore developed a magical powder that can shrink anyone. The local Texas Rangers, led by the brave Ranger Tom, try to stop Parasijt, but are lured into a trap. Tom and his Rangers are shrunk and put into whiskey bottles. In an escape attempt, the bottle containing Ranger Tom ends up in a crate that is shipped to Belgium and thus ends up in the hands of Lambik, who is given a crate of whiskey by Theofiel Boomerang. Suske, Wiske, Aunt Sidonia, Lambik, Jerom, and Professor Barabas hear the story and decide to help Ranger Tom. Barabas will try to enlarge Ranger Tom again, and the rest travel to Dark City to stop Jim Parasijt.

Single mother Elaine is disturbed by her son Martin's aggressive behaviour, she visits his late father's estranged family in small-town Luxembourg, which hides a much darker nature. When she realizes that Martin could become like them, Elaine is forced into a desperate fight for her son's future.

8pm in a rundown prison. A prisoner on death row will be executed. He has the right to make a final declaration. But the law doesn't stipulate how long he can talk. So, as long as he talks the execution is postponed…

Sofia, a reserved and bookish 18 year old, is on the cusp of graduating high school when her free-spirited sister Joan dies in a tragic accident. Wracked with guilt, Sofia decides to take the European adventure that Joan had planned but would never complete. She sets out with Joan’s backpack and itinerary, drifting from city to city, encountering strangers and unfamiliar experiences, in search of something she cannot yet name

Blue for a Moment is a documentary portrait of Swedish-born, Berlin-based musician Sven-Åke Johansson, a key figure in European improvised and experimental music. Active as a jazz drummer, composer, poet and visual artist, Johansson has spent decades challenging artistic conventions and genre boundaries. Born in 1943, he moved to Berlin in the late 1960s and became involved in the city’s experimental scene, including the Zodiak Free Arts Lab. During the 1970s and 1980s he played an important role in the West Berlin free jazz movement around the FMP/SÅJ label, collaborating with musicians such as Alexander von Schlippenbach and Rüdiger Carl. Influenced by Fluxus and modernist traditions, Johansson developed a distinctive approach based on noise, reduction and the use of everyday materials, anticipating the Echtzeitmusik scene that emerged in Berlin after 1990. The film explores his creative process, artistic philosophy and lasting impact on contemporary experimental music.

A young soprano tries to keep her hearing loss a secret during the opening week of an avant-garde production of Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'.

After months abroad, a heartbroken man returns home only to confront the collapse of his relationship as a strange parasite begins to grow inside his head.

In early 18th century an African slave boy is chosen by a European Comtesse to be baptized and educated. Reaching adulthood, Angelo achieves prominence and soon becomes the Viennese court mascot until he decides to secretly marry a white woman.

It is the story of three women in three different places: Turin, Paris and Luxembourg City. Stefania, whose husband has left her for a younger woman, lives alone and types fiction teleplays for a living... until the day she decides to open a new chapter of her life. Elena tries to commit suicide by jumping into the River Seine. She is saved by Bernard, a tramp who, after attempting to reanimate her, takes her to the emergency ward. Later on, they meet again. Stella tries to wake up her drunk companion so that he can become again Diabolique, the fire-eater of a small circus. She more or less manages to but her man is wounded while performing his act and finishes the night in a hospital room.

In a magic realistic world, troubled young Bernard seeks the closeness of his father Carlos, who refuses a life-saving operation. His approaching death causes Bernard to reevaluate his environment and himself.

After a botched theft, Anaïs finds herself holed up at a friends’ house, whose parents are away. Tensions rise between Anaïs’ crew and their hosts about what to do next, since Anaïs refuses to go back to her children’s home. A story about teenage solidarity and fear of abandonment.

Georges's life is turned upside-down when he meets Yamina and decides to help her. While she seems to be persecuted and living in hiding, Georges's reality is rooted in a daily routine without any surprises. Yamina's stories fascinate him: her happy childhood under the rhythm of a song, the massacres in the 1990s in the Great South, as well as her difficulties in Algeria and then in France. Georges spends more and more time with Yamina and is totally disorientated the day she disappears without a word. As his search for her unfolds, Georges realizes that he knows nothing about her and that every person he meets who knew Yamina seems to have a different version of the young woman's life. Convinced that he must go to Algiers to save her, Georges abandons everything and sets out on a journey without any concrete destination. His quest finally leads him to an oasis in the Sahara, a desert that spreads as widely as this love story between Bonnevoie and Tabelbala.

Unsuccessful Luxembourg bank robber Johnny Chicago is released from prison and immediately and incompetently attempts to resume his life of crime. In a few days he manages to get his old partner fired and thrown out of the house, his girlfriend arrested and jailed, all the while scheming to rob a bunch of German pensioners, stop a train and make some quick money to make a name for himself.

Documentary about the making of Les Chevaliers blancs, the film Lafosse worked on for seven weeks in the Sahara. A shooting period marked by unusual working methods and unexpected challenges.