CinEast 2021 - Never gonna snow again

Screening in the framework of the CinEast film festival

Zhenia, a mysterious young masseur coming from behind the Eastern border, enters the lives of the rich residents of a bland, walled-off community on the outskirts of a Polish city. Despite their wealth, the inhabitants of this seemingly isolated fairytale town emit an inner sadness, a kind of longing. Zhenia has a gift, his hands heal their wounds and his eyes seem to penetrate their souls. To them, his Russian accent sounds like a song from the past, a distant memory of their childhood when the world was a safer place. Zhenia changes their lives.
The latest offering by the award-winning Małgorzata Szumowska (co-directed by her long-time collaborator, Michal Englert), which premiered in the competition programme of the Venice film festival, takes a cinematographic look at the wealthier part of Polish society, with some doses of magic, nostalgia and humour. The overwhelming inner calm and self-reliance of Zhenia comes into stark contrast with the restless, stressed and lost people who seem to have everything, and questions the meaning of their existence.

Awards:
Venice IFF 2020 (Special mention)
Polish Film Awards 2021 (Best Cinematography)

Directed by Małgorzata Szumowska & Michał Englert

Written by Małgorzata Szumowska & Michał Englert

With Alec Utgoff, Maja Ostaszewska, Agata Kulesza, Weronika Rosati, Andrzej Chyra

drama, comedy, 113 min, eng subtitles, 16+

Le festival CinEast 

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.