The lineup for the 16th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival  includes an homage to Isabelle Huppert, who stars in one of several Luxembourg (co-)productions.

Under the theme “Wild, Wild Rose”, with many of the films evoking either the colour pink or the flower, this year’s edition kicks off on 5 March with Rose (Markus Schleinzer), part of the Official Competition, about a woman of the same name who disguises herself as a man and attempts to claim an estate following the Thirty Years’ War, and closes with Rosebush Pruning (Karim Aïnouz), a twisted satire about the patriarchal family. 

The 14 March awards ceremony features a Luxembourg co-production (with Amour Fou Luxembourg) blending vampire lore with dark humour, Die Blutgräfin (The Blood Countess, by Ulrike Ottinger), starring Isabelle Huppert as Hungarian noblewoman and accused killer, Elizabeth Báthory. Huppert, who will be present at the screening, will also be honoured during the ceremony for her career, which includes two César Awards for Best Actress in Elle and La Cérémonie. 

Other Luxembourg highlights

Also in the Official Competition lineup is Luxembourg co-production (with Red Lion) How to Divorce During the War (Andrius Blaževičius), which won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Dramatic section. Filmed largely in Vilnius, the film follows a couple’s divorce in parallel with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

This year’s Made In/With Luxembourg category, in addition to the aforementioned Luxembourg co-productions in the Official Competition, “highlights the remarkable diversity flourishing within our borders”, the organisers say. These screenings are in the presence of their film’s directors, actors and/producers. 

Among them is Massoud Bakhshi’s All My Sisters (Amour Fou), in which he follows two of his Tehran-raised nieces from 2007 over 18 years. In a November 2025 Variety article, Bakhshi recalled some of the challenges and questions in editing the final film, saying that his main concern was their consent: “This whole process was extremely challenging for me because [in Iran] the culture is all about hiding, covering, and not revealing, exposing, or showing anything directly. But this is exactly what cinema is about: to search, to ask, to show. The idea of the mirror is very important and basic in this film.”

Meanwhile, Caroline Kox’s Women as Lovers (Amour Fou) is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Kelinek (who, incidentally, also wrote The Piano Teacher, which Michael Haneke adapted into a film starring Isabelle Huppert). Women as Lovers explores the lives of two women in parallel in late capitalism, and “explores romantic relationships and female desires through a sensitive and contemporary approach, questioning dominant emotional models,” per the LuxFilmFest press release. 

Organisers have aimed for parity in terms of male and female directors, as well as LGBTQIA+ themes. One film falling into both categories is On Sera Heureux (We’ll Find Happiness, Léa Pool), a “deeply moving love story tinged with rebellion” about Moroccan Saad and Reza, his Iranian lover, who faces deportation to Iran and punishment there, forcing Saad to attempt to protect him from such a fate. 

This year’s festival trailer includes the song “Little Black Dress” by Luxembourg-based Francis of Delirium. 

Other notable highlights 

This year’s jury is presided over by Spanish film director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who has just finished his latest film, The Beloved, with Javier Bardem. Also on the jury is Peter Doherty, British musician best known as The Libertines’ co-frontman; Argentinian director and screenwriter, Lisandro Alonso; Finnish actress Alma Pöysti, who has had roles in Tove and Fallen Leaves; and Rae Lyn Lee, a director, screenwriter and cinematographer who works between Luxembourg and Singapore. 

Other programmes of note include the Young Audience programme and the 8th edition of the Immersive Pavillion (taking place 5-22 March), which includes virtual, augmented and mixed reality installations at neimënster, Mudam and, in a first, Villa Louvigny, which was specially chosen to showcase Radio Luxembourg: Ghosts of the Villa by Dominique Santana (2025) because it used to house the iconic radio station. 

Watch our interview with Gladys Lazareff, Managing Director of LuxFilmFest:

To see the full programme agenda, visit www.luxfilmfest.lu