CULTURE - GLADYS LAZAREFF

“Going back to the roots”

The Luxembourg City Film Festival will be back for its 12th edition on 3-13 March. Managing director Gladys Lazareff talks about how the festival landscape has changed and what’s new this year.

This will be the third festival during the pandemic. How have you adapted over the years? Last year was a hybrid edition. It was basically two festivals--one in person and one online. It was a lot of organising. We really needed two teams. We had decided not to invite guests, so we had the budget to do this. This year, we had to make a choice. Our mission is to show films to people in the cinema, to discover, to meet each other. So we decided to have a festival only in person. We’re taking a risk, but it’s important to show that we must live with this, that you can go out and live culture.

The festival circuit has been disrupted everywhere. What challenges does that pose to get films here? It’s a problem. It was already a problem in 2021. We have difficulties to negotiate. The release order has totally imploded. Distributors and sellers work differently now. We also have to negotiate with video on demand platforms because they have taken an important place and sometimes films get released there directly.

The pandemic has also halted productions, delayed releases. Was there enough to choose from? We were afraid of backlog issues, but the films are there. Some are waiting for bigger festivals; some choose VOD platforms. But there is a lot of choice. We saw a lot more films than last year.

Can we expect international visitors to be back this year? Last year, we gave a lifetime achievement award to Terry Gilliam, who promised us to come when the conditions are better. He confirmed that he will do a master class on the first weekend of the festival. We have a jury. There will be the industry days for professionals, who I think will be happy to meet each other again. For guests from Europe it’s easier because of the vaccine certificate. But for guests from all around the world it’s a problem, because they have different vaccines, the certificates aren’t recognised. But guests will be there. That’s a promise.

What’s new for the 2022 edition? We have a new award--the 2030 Award by Luxembourg Aid and Development. We worked with the humanitarian cooperation directorate.

It’s a selection of films that really engage with important topics. We have a new label-outside the box. It’s for films that are written differently, new types of filmmaking. And we will also have the Acid focus on Cannes. In Cannes there is a parallel section, called Acid--the Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema. There will be three films from Acid Cannes. We’re proud to present these novelties for the 2022 edition under these conditions.

Do you have a personal highlight you’re looking forward to? We will show the latest film of Panah Panahi, an Iranian director. We hope he will be able to come, and I’m really excited to see what he will tell audiences.

The film is called Hit the Road.

Outside of film screenings, there’s usually a line-up of other events.

What are you hoping to be able to host? We will have the headquarters at the Casino – Contemporary Art Forum. There will be some workshops for young audiences, meetings for professionals, an animation day. But they are more professional events than for the public. It’s difficult to plan. We’ve had meetings on how to organise drinks for the opening night, things that are normally very basic. It will be different. But what’s important is to show films, to meet the people who make films… going back to the roots.