On Sunday 17 April 2016 the avant-premier of the highly-anticipated The Jungle Book live action film was held at no less than 20 screening rooms in Utopolis-Kirchberg and Utopolis-Belval, as well as Ciné Utopia for the first time, in a collaboration organised by Rotary Luxembourg with Disney.

Proceeds from the screenings (€8 of the €15 ticket price) are going towards their Espoir-En-Tete charity initiative which involves supporting brain research in Luxembourg. In total the 2015 event attracted more than 4,150 spectators, a record for Luxembourg. Previous years have seen the Rotary-Disney collaboration screen Cinderella (2015), Saving Mr. Banks (2014), and The fantastic world of Oz (2013).

The 2015 amount raised totalled €25,000 which went to support the activities of experimental laboratories at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg to buy new equipment (Mx3005P QPCR System 230V) to be used to measure the activity of genes in biological samples - this instrument is used mainly in research on Parkinson's disease.

This year, the amount donated totalled €50,000, from 4,300 tickets sold.

On Monday evening, members of Rotary Luxembourg attended a presentation at Utopolis-Kirchberg at which the proceeds of the April event were presented: €40,000 to the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) and the Integrated biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL) on a research project to determine if Parkinson's can be contracted through microbes in the digestive tract and the nose, and the Life Sciences Research Unit (LSRU) of the University of Luxembourg for a research project on neuro-inflammation.

René Friederici, Gouverneur nommé D1630, delivered a presentation of Rotary Luxembourg and the Espoir-En-Tete charity initiative. Others also addressed the group, including Dr. Rudy Balling of the LCSB, Dr. Paul Heuschling of the LSRU and Marc Vandelaer, CEO of the IBBL. Dr. Paul Wilmes (LCSB) and Dr. Fay Betsou (IBBL) delivered a presentation on Microbobes in the digestive tract and the nose potentially being a cuase of Parkinson's Disease, and Dr Luc Grandbarbe (LSRU) talked about neuro-inflammation.

Rotary Luxembourg comprises 14 clubs in Luxembourg, out of which 8 Clubs are located in the City of Luxembourg and the other 6 Clubs being located in different regions of the country, totalling 850 members. Luxembourgish as language is very common, but some Clubs communicate in French and the RC Luxembourg-Hearts is an English-speaking club.

Photo by Geoff Thompson