PM Bettel Delivers Cinemania Opening Speech, Praises Interest in Luxembourg Films in Montreal

From 2 to 5 November 2022, a large Luxembourg delegation of professionals from the audiovisual production sector, led by the Film Fund Luxembourg, visited Montreal, Canada.

The objective of this promotional mission was to discover the diversity of Luxembourg creation across the Atlantic and to deepen the long-standing relationships that exist with Quebec partners.

The Film Fund Luxembourg took the opportunity of Luxembourg being honoured at the 28th CINEMANIA Francophone Film Festival (which takes place from 2 to 13 November 2022) to join forces with Kultur|lx, Luxembourg for Tourism and the Image de marque du Luxembourg for organising this business trip to Montreal.

The delegation of more than 30 professionals from the audiovisual sector, combining producers, directors, actors and technicians, for its part took part in networking meetings, case studies and conferences to develop existing joint projects or establish new contacts. These work meetings ended with visits to digital, animation and visual effects studios or to filming locations in order to explore new collaboration prospects.

Guy Daleiden, director of the Film Fund Luxembourg, said: “This Luxembourg presence in Montreal has been a great success in terms of the visibility of national know-how and creativity. Meetings and professional exchanges will pave the way for the creation of new projects with our Quebec friends. Working transversally with other Luxembourg institutions and artists adds an additional touch of notoriety to Luxembourg's influence abroad”.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister and Minister of Communications and Media, Xavier Bettel, traveling to Canada took advantage of his trip to join the Luxembourg delegation.

During his speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the CINEMANIA Festival, Prime Minister Bettel notably insisted on the essential role that culture plays in our daily living together and on the importance of respect and dignity for human diversity.

Prime Minister Bettel added: “The interest shown by the public in the Luxembourgish works on display at the festival, as well as the willingness of the Quebec sector to work with our Luxembourg producers, directors, technicians and actors, underline the great creativity and artistic competence of our national sector. I am very proud to see that their hard work is highly appreciated (abroad)”.

During his stay in Canada, Prime Minister Bettel met Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa. During their meeting, the Prime Ministers reiterated the historical ties that unite Luxembourg and Canada. They also discussed their sharing of common values ​​rooted in the principles of multilateralism and respect for human rights, as well as their determination to fight against climate change.

They also took stock of the excellent relations between the two countries and pledged to deepen them, in particular through closer cooperation in economic areas, based on the results of the economic mission to Canada last June.

Prime Minister Bettel also had a meeting with the Premier of Quebec, François Legault. Their conversation focused in particular on the field of culture, including the audiovisual sector, economic cooperation and research.

Luxembourg films in French-speaking co-productions was highlighted thanks to an unprecedented selection of 20 productions or co-productions (some made with Quebec) among which six films are in competition at the Festival, namely the feature film “More than ever" by Emily Atef (Samsa Film) in the "Faces of La Francophonie" section, three short films "The Ogre" by Aurélien Pira (Zeilt Productions), "Caroline on the roof" by Alejandro Bordier (Calach Films) and "The Red Suitcase" by Cyrus Neshvad (Cynefilms) as well as two documentary feature films "The Invitation" by Fabrizio Maltese (Red Lion) and "The Living Witnesses" by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron (Paul Thiltges Distributions).