(selection)
The special charm of the European debut films in Linz is found in their refreshing courage to experiment. The link the personal fate of individuals with social upheavals and crises, and they offer alternatives to the conventional patters of traditional narrative cinema.
Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf, Deutschlandradio Kultur
Continuity, angry heroes, and the passing of time. For a whole decade now, Crossing Europe in Linz provides a concentrated framework for young European auteur cinema.
Isabella Reicher, Der Standard
In its first ten years the Crossing Europe Festival in Linz has established itself as the second most important international film festival in Austria. And that with program policies that consistently operate beyond the boundaries of the cinema business, including those of program cinema.
Peter Temel, kurier.at
Auteur film. For ten years now, the Crossing Europe Festival has been devoted to ‘young, eccentric cinema’. The concept works.
Martin Behr, Salzburger Nachrichten
Christine Dollhofer and her team have perfected the organizational operations, while still leaving room within the contents for what is spontaneous, innovative, what is yet to be discovered. The fruitful interplay between international and regional forces is demonstrated in an exemplary way. The fact that Dollhofer has been uncompromising in her choice of films for impulses over the whole course of these ten years, turning the festival into an indispensable exception deserves all recognition, which she will certainly immediately share with everyone involved.
Philipp Wagenhofer, Volksblatt
Crossing Europe, which will transform Linz into the melting pot of European cinema from Tuesday, 23 April, to Sunday, 28 April, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. The proud resume: 1361 films, 137,500 visitors, and the consistent achievement of arousing exuberant enthusiasm among fans and the industry.
Nora Bruckmüller, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten
Films from life – courage for ‘eccentric cinema’ is what Linz has already proved since 2003 at the ‘Crossing Europe’ festival. It is not quotas and glamor that are the specifications, but rather engagement, social criticism, and high-quality auteur cinema from all over Europe. Yet stars can still be found too, such as the great actor August Diehl, who plays in the opening film ‘Layla Fourie’ by Pia Marais. An exciting program from all over Europe awaits the guests in Linz.
Martina Renyi, 3sat Kulturzeit
Suitable for Europe – It could have gone wrong as well. Ten years ago the former head of the Diagonale Christine Dollhofer conceived a festival for young European film. Location: Linz. Linz, of all places!, she often heard at the time. One decade, 1361 films and 137,500 visitors later, Crossing Europe has established itself alongside the Viennale and the Diagonale as the third largest film show in the country.
Stephan Wabl, profil
Crossing Europe in Linz, which has risen in the central European festival landscape like a comet since the first festival in 2003, has become established today, but fortunately not in the selection of films and guests or the surrounding show. Probably because they do not necessarily run after trends nor emphasize what many in the cultural establishment think they have to emphasize, Christine Dollhofer and her team succeed in attracting an open-minded audience with an appreciation for art in relatively large numbers.
Philipp von Lucke, Film & TV Kameramann
Infected by a taste for eccentric cinema – Ten years ago Christine Dollhofer founded the Linz film festival Crossing Europe, which has since then become established as a benchmark.
Christoph Huber, Die Presse
A festival celebrates the underdogs. A journey of discovery through Europe.
Simon Hadler, orf.at
Hard-working, much too serious young people and absurd conditions – the Crossing Europe Film Festival offers the best of arthouse cinema. At Crossing Europe the audience feels like the Asian merchant in this year’s festival trailer by the artist Ella Raidel: the man sits in the midst of a copious range of goods and has eyes only for the moving images on the screen. They virtually lift the Taiwanese man out of his surroundings into the sky. At Crossing Europe you often land in places that would hardly be chosen as the destination for a journey. Then suddenly you look around. And in the films shown in the competition at the festival in Linz, you encounter young, wonderful personalities.
Maria Motter, fm4.orf.at
The world’s best film festival of the week. Close to reality: Crossing Europe in Linz. Here “European cinema” means neither “Euro-pudding” nor “event movies”, but rather a regional cinema, where big budgets need not play a role, but instead dialects and other local special features.
Michael Omasta, Falter
A window to (south-eastern) Europe – Crossing Europe has hit a nerve of the times: when the first edition of the festival took place in Linz ten years ago, the eastern expansion of the EU was just at the threshold. In keeping with this, the festival presented a cross-section of films from the regions of the new member states.
Matthias Greuling, Die Furche
Eye to eye with the stars.
Alexander Seibel, Kurier
Willful and challenging. Founded ten years ago, the Crossing Europe Film Festival has developed from an insider tip to a fixed item in the festival landscape.
Eva Pakisch, Raiffeisenzeitung
Along with its excellent programming that illuminates the diverse facets of European filmmaking, what remains memorable about Crossing Europe is also the characteristically familiar, relaxed atmosphere that makes up the special charm of the festival remote from red-carpet attitudes.
Alexandra Seitz, ray-magazin.at
