This year’s edition will put Bulgaria in the spotlight (Focus on Bulgaria). The traditional photography exhibition at Neimënster takes “Crossroads” as its theme, asking what happens when individuals, communities or entire societies find themselves at a crossroads. The festival will also offer a range of musical experiences, including the Opening concert by Balkan fusion stars Shantel & Bucovina Club Soundsystem (9/10), the Bulgarian jazz ensemble GloBalKan (10/10), with its captivating fusion of folk, jazz, pop, Latin American influences and classical music, and the Closing concert by Taqsim Driver (23/10).

This year’s Czech programme offers a stylistically and genre-diverse selection. Don’t miss Agnieszka Holland’s experimental and truly Kafkaesque and elusive biopic Franz. We will also screen Chica Checa, a family film about coming out, presented with the participation of director and screenwriter Šimon Holý. We also invite you to discover the understatedly charming and gripping Everything As It Should Be, which will compete for the festival’s main prize and will be presented in the presence of director and screenwriter Bohdan Karásek and lead actress Marie Švestková.

The Czech selection of feature films will be completed by Jitka Rudolfová’s emotionally intense relationship drama Dancing with the Bear and the documentary If Pigeons Turned to Gold (the Czech Oscar submission and the winning documentary at this year’s Berlinale). In the film, its director Pepa Lubojacki tackles the subject of addiction within her own family with formal playfulness and breathtaking honesty.

The short film programme will feature Kryštof Kindl’s electrifying debut Electricks, Slovak filmmaker Márie Kralovič’s animated marital Robinsonade Tourists, and Viktorie Štěpánová’s student Oscar-winning Volklore, a vibrant and playful transposition of folk traditions into the world of contemporary influencers.

For our youngest viewers, we have prepared a series of short films by Karel Zeman, a selection of animated films FAMU for Kids, and five short puppet films, Joe's Misadventures, directed by Slovak filmmaker Vladimír Pikalík.

The Slovak selection, coincidentally, features two period dramas set in the 1980s. In the festival’s main competition, we will screen Ivan Ostrochovský’s delicately poetic Only Beautiful Things to Look At, which deals with the forced sterilisation of Roma women and stars Aňa Geislerová in the lead role. Competing for the Young Talents Award will be Martin Gonda’s assured debut Flood (this year’s Slovak Oscar submission), about growing up in a Rusyn village that is soon to fall victim to the socialist construction project of the Starina reservoir.

Last but not least, we recommend Marko Škop’s harrowing psychological drama For Love, about the relationship between a daughter and her mother, which will be presented in the presence of the director, as well as the adolescent romcom Lover, Not a Fighter by young Slovak filmmaker Martina Buchelová (winner of the Proxima Award at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival). The film is not only an authentic portrayal of a young generation, but also a disarming expression of creative freedom and playfulness in filmmaking.

A large number of films will also be available online via CinEast Online Cinema. The festival pass, priced at EUR 49/39, includes 10 screenings (in cinemas or online).

The complete festival programme and all further information are available at www.cineast.lu.