CinEast 2021 - The Living Witnesses

Special screening in the presence of the directors in the framework of the CinEast film festival

The Living Witnesses is a film tying the past to the present: from antisemitism, racism and the Holocaust of the Second World War to the new wave of racism emerging throughout Europe today. Three living witnesses of the Second World War, survivors of deportation or concentration camps, meet three students from Luxembourg who were either born in Luxembourg or immigrated from Syria or the Ivory Coast. With the deportation and the extermination of Jews in mind, the six discover how crimes against humanity still play a considerable role in the consciousness of contemporary societies. We are still living in the post-war era, but the statements of “never again” seem to fade away.

The film produced by the Luxembourgian company Paul Thiltges Distributions had its premiere at the Luxembourg City Film Festival 2021.  

directed by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron

with Marian Turski, Claude Marx, Chadon Tina Marie Yapo, Christina Khoury, Dean Schadeck

documentary, 84 min, eng subtitles, 16+

The CinEast festival

Since 2008, the CinEast festival (the Central and Eastern European Film Festival) has contributed significantly to cultural diversity in Luxembourg by presenting some of the best films and art that Central and Eastern European countries have to offer. Since its first edition, the festival has grown considerably in its scope and diversity of programmes and has attracted a broader audience each year. In 2019, the festival screenings and other events attracted a total of around 11 200 people and in 2020, the “hybrid” event attracted 6 450 participants despite the restrictions related to Covid-19. The festival programme is complemented by a variety of special events, bringing together different forms of art (music, photography, literature, etc.), thus promoting cultural exchange and friendship through meetings, debates, food and music. It also presents a rare occasion for audiences in Luxembourg to learn about and experience the cultures of the countries represented in a broader sense. The festival presents films from all the former communist countries that have become EU Members – Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – as well as all the other countries of the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Albania, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus are also represented at the festival.