Placing the emphasis very much on young auteurs, who attend the relaxed and meticulously organised event to present their first or second features, Crossing Europe is a fine annual showcase of the best cinematic output that the continent has to offer.
cineuropa.org // Matthew Boas
This week Linz is the cinematic center of Europe. Crossing Europe is currently the most exciting film festival in Austria.
Dolomiten // Marian Wilhelm
More than just topical: the Crossing Europe Film Festival in the beautiful city of Linz once again proves its instinct for acute topics in the greater region of Europe and devotes this year’s Spotlight program to the Turkish auteur filmmaker Yeşim Ustaoğlu.
epd film // Alexandra Seitz
Crossing Europe, the international film festival in Linz, is always good for new discoveries. This year, the 14th year of its existence, festival director Christine Dollhofer presents a new, compact program section, the so-called Spotlight. And she focuses it on the Turkish filmmaker Yeşim Ustaoğlu, 56, who presents five of her feature films in person.
Falter // Michael Omasta
It is not at all easy to keep an overview of current political events in Europe. Wonderful films like “Close Relations” or “Chez Nous” can clarify a great deal. Even the first film evening at the Crossing Europe Festival is already emotionally charged.
fm4.orf.at // Maria Motter
Seeking out European issues and then the dimensions in which they must be considered, this is what distinguishes the film festival “Crossing Europe”.
Die Furche // Thomas Taborsky
The state of Europe on the cinema screen. For 14 years now, “Crossing Europe” has almost seismographically reflected the shocks that have subjected the European community to a tremendous endurance test.
Kirchenzeitung // Markus Vorauer
The festival manages a balancing act between international award-winning film highlights and works from the regional film scene.
Kronen Zeitung Oberösterreich // Milli Hornegger
Small but beautiful films from countries, from which hardly a film finds its way into the regular cinema program, but they can be discovered at the 14th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz.
Kultur-online // Walter Gasperi
Empathy for the continent of Europe.
Neues Volksblatt // Mariella Moshammer
Half of all the films of the 14th Crossing Europe, which still continues until tomorrow in Linz, were made by women – 80 from 160. A tremendously high proportion
This quota, which other festival struggle to reach, is enriched this year with a new section.
OÖ Nachrichten // Nora Bruckmüller
Cinema festival in turbulent times – finding a common denominator for Europe – that is something neither pro- nor anti-European politicians have succeeded in doing. The way the heterogeneity of the continent is presented again this year at the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz is therefore all the more fascinating.
orf.at // Simon Hadler
Taking down barriers, questioning borders, and casting a positive look at a crisis-ridden continent – that is the intention of Crossing Europe. With the strong and highly topical program, this will succeed again in the 14th edition.
ORF Kultur – Oberösterreich Heute // Julia Fellerer
Empathy for a solidary Europe – in addition strong artistic works, the Crossing Europe Festival aspires to present socio-politically relevant positions as well.
ö1 Radio // Benno Feichter
Should we go for Europe’s throat? The film festival “Crossing Europe” makes it clear: we are in a crisis region.
Die Presse // Andrey Arnold
The Linz film festival Crossing Europe shows the film art of a politically and morally ailing continent. Crossing Europe Director Christine Dollhofer [
] has again set out to give a form to the political and moral drama called Europe, which is taking place right before our eyes – and she has prepared a program that tells very precisely of the current fissures relating to democracy, nationalism and migration, but without sinking into pessimism.
profil // Stefan Grissemann
Right-wing manipulation & unheard voices at Crossing Europe.
Raiffeisen Zeitung // Eva Pakisch
Once again, the Crossing Europe Film Festival combines sophisticated European contemporary cinema with an exciting framework program.
The great achievement of the festival this year again is making films accessible to the audience, which have a striking signature, but are unjustly little noticed outside festivals.
Ray Filmmagazin // Oliver Stangl
Expanding the idea of Europe in the cinema. Young, eccentric, unusual, and cleverly networked. These are the guidelines of the film festival Crossing Europe, which has grown out of a private initiative into an unmistakable format. The positioning between world cinema, which can be seen at the Viennale in October, and the Austrian productions shown at the Diagonale in Graz in March, has proved successful. Crossing Europe is a festival that brings countries from the edges of Europe into the center.
Salzburger Nachrichten // Magdalena Miedl
For many years now, Crossing Europe, one of the most important film festivals in this country, has been showing films as Austrian premieres, which elude the usual conventions and specifications of art-house cinema, and which can speak for themselves without the usual PR-accompaniment of big names. They are films that do not enter into a competitive exhibition, but rather complement one another like different voices. Specifically for this reason, they are works that are especially well suited to gauge European cinema in its diversity.
Der Standard // Michael Pekler
Crossing Europe – the name is the program. The films offer a broader view all the way across Europe.
subtext.at // Lisa Leeb
Outside Vienna and after the Diagonale in Graz, today “Crossing Europe” is the most important film festival in the country and has long since achieved international influence. The contributing factor is the program, repeatedly challenging, but always worth it, that Christine Dollhofer puts together.
Wiener Zeitung // Matthias Greuling
