Festival History: 2022

CINEMA WITHOUT BORDERS - Comeback of the Crossing Europe festival spirit

„Here, the socially engaged filmmaking of the European continent is put on display in all its diversity, without aestheticistic conceit or false East-West divide in the program. This is where (mainly young) filmmakers from all European countries meet to make contacts, exchange experiences and celebrate together.“ - Andrey Arnold, Die Presse (AT)
 
Crossing Europe film festival 2022 - for the first time under the responsibility of Sabine Gebetsroither and Katharina Riedler, who took over as festival directors in October 2021 - provided current insights into European realities, negotiated topics that concern Europe and highlighted problems that need to be tackled and overcome.
The program offered 148 hand-picked feature films and documentaries from more than 30 countries, with current socio-political but also artistic and eccentric works, highlights of the festival season and regional filmmaking.
 
The aim of  the festival 2022 was to reflect on Europe as a democratic, diverse, open and solidary place, also far beyond the EU borders - with the hope that the European peace project can regain momentum and, in particular, that the war in Ukraine will come to an end. In addition to emotional cinematic experiences, the presence of numerous film guests from Austria and abroad ensured that the exchange between audiences and filmmakers was at the heart of the festival - both in the cinema and after the screenings in the relaxed ambience of the festival district around OK-Platz.
 
Fortunately, the festival audience accepted the invitation to travel across Europe on the cinema screen in large numbers. In the past six days, almost 15,000 festival visitors were counted at 155 film screenings and numerous supporting programs (talks, workshops, Nightline, etc.). Compared to 2021 ("Corona edition" of Crossing Europe), this means an increase of 5,000 visitors, which is likely due to the appealing and diverse festival program as well as the relaxation of the overall pandemic situation
 
The program section Working Worlds in 2022 was entitled "Care" and was devoted to self-determination from the beginning to the end of life, while the series Architecture and Society focused on the economic, ecological and social significance of soil under the title "LAND FOR US ALL!“. Tribute guest was the Belgian filmmaker Fabrice du Welz, and in the Local Artists section a special was dedicated to experimental artist Dietmar Brehm from Linz.
 
About 120 film guests from all over Europe visited CROSSING EUROPE for film talks and numerous premieres, talks, Crossover projects at the crossroads of film and media art and the YAAAS! Youth Program with workshops
completed the line-up. During the Awards Ceremony, the juries awarded cash and non-cash prizes with a total value of around € 26,500, the list of award winners can be found HERE.
 
With CROSSING EUROPE @ HOME, there was again an offer of festival elements to enjoy at home. This included not only live streams of talks and the award ceremony during the festival, but also, among other things, 10 films from the 2022 festival program on the Austrian streaming platform KINO VOD CLUB or a collection of films from previous CROSSING EUROPE editions as part of the first cooperation with filmfriend.at and the city library Linz. In addition, in the weeks and months following the festival, there were around 20 more opportunities to experience selected films from the 2022 festival program in cinemas throughout Austria as part of "Crossing Europe goes...", including for example at the Austrian Film Museum, SLASH ½, the International Film Festival Innsbruck or the festival Der Neue Heimatfilm in Freistadt.
 
Conclusion: After what felt like a very long Corona winter, the comeback of the Crossing Europe festival spirit was felt throughout the inner city of Linz. The social space of cinema was bustling, as was all too rarely the case in the months before – a strong sign of the unbroken interest in European film.




Audience number: 15.000
Films: 148
World premieres: 14
Countries of origin:  34
Film guests: 120
Award winners 2022: HERE
Jury 2022: HERE
Film archive 2022: HERE
Tribute 2022: HERE
 
:
 
:
 
:
 
:
 
:
 
: