British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2023 SPRING FESTIVAL Launched

On Monday 6 March 2023, Festival Events Asbl announced the launch of the British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2023: this year it is splitting screenings between a Spring Festival (19/20-24 March, at Ciné Utopia) and an Autumn Festival (18-22 September, at the Cinémathèque).

 

The film festival provides a unique opportunity for viewers to experience a wide selection of new films from Britain and Ireland. The six-day Spring Festival will include ten feature-length films from a cross-section of genres and representing mainly independent cinema. In addition, the festival will be screening a specially-commissioned short film Solidarity 365 in line with the “Solidarity with Refugees” initiative started during BIFFL 2022. 

 

The British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg (BIFFL) 2023 Spring Festival will open with the screening of Róise & Frank, an Irish-language comedy drama, and will close with the English production The Lost King, a drama set in Leicester. All films will be receiving their Luxembourg premiers during the festival, with the Oscar-nominated Irish-language drama An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) wich was also recently screened at the Luxembourg city Film Festival in a collaboration with the British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg. 

 

Geoff Thompson, Festival Organiser and President of Festival Events Asbl, stated: “We are delighted to see the festival evolve in different ways this year: firstly by the holding of both Spring and Autumn Festivals, which enables us to bring new films to our audiences quicker, and also by the creating of a new Asbl primarily for this festival. We truly have a wonderful line-up, including three Irish-language films. While there are no documentaries in the Spring Festival, we no doubt expect them to feature heavily in our traditional September timeframe.”

 

The festival’s Special Guest, Lorcan Cranitch (actor), will appear in no less than three films and will be here in-person for post-screening Q&As: 

• Róise & Frank, an Irish-language comedy drama on Monday 20 March

• Tarrac, an Irish-language drama set in Kerry in the world of open-water rowing, on Tuesday 21 March

• Lakelands, an English-language drama filmed in Longford and set in the world of Gaelic football, also on Tuesday 21 March

 

Wednesday 22 March is given over to two Scottish films, Emily, a drama about the imagined life of one of the world’s most famous authors, Emily Brontë ,and a docu-drama My Old School. Also that day, the Oscar-nominated Irish-language drama An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) will have a late afternoon screening.

 

Thursday 23 March sees two Welsh films being screened, LOLA, a drama about two sisters who build a machine that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future, and The Almond and the Seahorse, a powerful and moving drama about dealing with loved ones who are suffering from memory loss. 

 

The Closing film on Friday 24 March is the English drama The Lost King, about an amateur historian who sets out to find King Richard III's remains.

 

Also being screened, on Sunday 19 March (before the formal Opening the following day), is Three Day Millionaire, a rollicking crime heist black comedy filmed in Grimsby. And 

 

In addition to the screenings, British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg (BIFFL) 2023 has also announced a Young Filmmakers Competition open to students in second and third level education. The winning entries will be screened at the BIFFL 2023 Autumn Festival in September.

 

 

Following on from the highly-successful Solidarity with Refugees initiative at BIFFL 2022, the BIFFL 2023 Spring Festival will screen a short documentary film Solidarity 365 which focuses on solidarity in Luxembourg towards the people of Ukraine, specifically the Solidarity March on 25 February 2023 (marking 365 days since Ukraine's resistance started) and the lead up to it, including interviews with a number of people in positions of authority on what solidarity means to them. This is being screened prior to the Opening Screening on 20 March, also before selected screenings during the festival. 

 

For more detailed information on the programme, please visit www.bifilmseason.lu. 

 

This year the Awards will feature both an Audience Award as well as an Audience Prize, with two entries winning a Magnum of Crémant from Bernard-Massard / a Hamper from Home from Home, and also a Critics’ Award, with the involvement of members of the Association Luxembourgeoise de la Presse Cinématographique (ALPC).

 

Tickets cost €10 per person per film, with ticketing again with Luxembourg-Ticket.lu, apart from Emily and The Lost King which are being screened in collaboration with Ciné Utopia as part of the BIFFL Presents… initiative (tickets for these screenings are on sale at Kinepolis.lu.

 

The popular Season Special Ticket will be available for purchase online at €35, with ticketing bundles also available (2 for €15; 3 for €20). Tickets may also be available at the venues prior to screenings, depending on availability.

 

The British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg has acknowledged its support again this year from a number of organisations including the Galway Film Fleadh, the Irish Film Institute, Screen Ireland, Culture Ireland, the Ville de Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Film Fund, as well as the financial contribution of the Embassy of Ireland in Luxembourg though its Emigrant Support Programme.

 

BIFFL also enjoys support from its sponsors, especially Silver Sponsor Enovos / LEO and Waystone, as well as Bronze Sponsors BGL BNP Paribas, and also partners including Bernard Massard, Home from Home and the New Delhi restaurant, and its media partners: AraCityRadio, Chronicle.lu, Delano, City Savvy Luxembourg and RTL Today. The festival thanked these organisations for their support through their commitment to supporting community and cultural events through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

 

PROGRAMME (all screening at Ciné Utopia):

 

Sun 19 March:

- 19:00: Three Day Millionaire

Mon 20 March:

- 19:00: Róise & Frank (Opening Screening), followed by Q&A with actor Lorcan Crantich

Tue 21 March:

- 19:00: Tarrac, followed by Q&A with actor Lorcan Crantich

- 21:30: Lakelands, followed by Q&A with actor Lorcan Crantich

Wed 22 March:

- 16:30: An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl)

- 19:00: Emily

- 21:30: My Old School

Thu 23 March:

- 19:00: The Almond and the Seahorse

- 21:30: LOLA

Fri 24 March:

- 19:00: Awards, followed by The Lost King (Closing Screening)

 

 

Lorcan Cranitch will attend the BIFFL 2023 Spring Festival and will participate in post-screening Q&As at three of his films: Róise & Frank, Tarrac and Lakelands.