10. September 2013

LET’S START!

We are happy: The second iteration of the LET’S CEE Film Festival starts in a few days. It will feature more than 60 extraordinary feature films, documentaries and short films that were made by people from around 30 different countries and that incorporate almost as many languages – according to the character of our festival, all but a few are from Central and Eastern Europe. A total number of around 60 filmmakers from all over Europe have announced their visit. The list of great names incorporates legends such as Academy Award winners Allan Starski and István Szabó, or Russian directing genius Alexander Sokurov. This means that we were able to almost double the number of films featured in our programme, as well as the number of high-profile guests. There is a similar trend regarding media attention. LET’S CEE got a lot of media coverage last year already. On Estonian online portals as well as in Croatian magazines, on Polish radio stations and Austrian TV, and even in China’s biggest English language daily newspaper. Based on the number of accreditation requests we have received so far and on other factors as well, we are certain: We will make a huge leap in this area, too. And of course, the audience! While we counted an already impressive number of 5,200 guests, including our fringe events, this year might bring a considerable rise in these numbers. The great start of the advance sale of tickets gives us reasons to be optimistic. We owe the very fact that we managed to organise our film festival for the second year running to a number of great and committed partners, headed by Cineplexx International and, above all, our dedicated team. Without the great voluntary help from many mainly young individuals from all over the world, an initiative like LET’S CEE would be doomed. Once again, thank you all. What does not make us happy: The responsible cultural institutions of Vienna and the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (BMUKK) still do not support us with so much as a single cent. Although the majority of people living in Vienna has some migrant background, and although film is without a doubt THE carrier medium for culture in Austria, the decision makers seem to ignore these facts as persistently as they ignore our festival. But as we know, hope is the last to die and we will not allow that to impair our joy at the prospect of a beautiful festival week. On behalf of our entire team, we wish you a beautiful week and hope that you will enjoy our programme.

With this in mind: LET’S CEE you soon!

Magdalena Żelasko
Managing Director and Festival Director

Photo of the festival team: Daniel Karner