A kaleidoscope of European cinematic art, from new talents to established important figures.
CITY! (magazin.linz.wels.steyr) / 6.4.2025
Crossing Europe presents new, European auteur cinema: With 142 feature films, documentaries, and short films, the choice in Linz from 29 April to 4 May 2025 is so great that it needs to be summed up in a little glossary.
Maria Motter, FM4 / 17.4.2025
The largest part of the program once again deals with current sociopolitical topics, ranging from films on the war in Ukraine to perspectives on upheavals in Eastern Europe, racism and xenophobia, to the topics of coming-of-age, aging, grief, and parenthood.
Walter Gasperi, filmnetz.at / 17.4.2025
Once again, the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz is poised to offer a deep dive into an array of European filmmaking from across the continent. [...] A hot topic at this edition is still the war in Ukraine, and several films are dedicated to the issue.
Susanne Gottlieb, Cineuropa / 23.4.2025
Mid-morning, and the sun’s already burning down on OK Platz in Linz. The food truck in front of the festival district is setting up. People with Crossing Europe bags are walking across the square, whistling. Guests are arriving at the festival office: It’s opening day, and there’s a lot of activity.
David Baldinger, Ö1 Kulturjournal / 29.4.2025
The style of this year’s Crossing Europe program can be characterized as inviting, personal and dedicated, taking us less often into the land of films about day-to-day political affairs than into the hidden landscapes of the European soul.
Valerie Dirk, Der Standard / 29.4.2025
Every year, Sabine Gebetsroither and Katharina Riedler are sifting through several hundred European films to develop something that makes the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz unique: a particular perspective, a bird’s-eye view on all the issues that are on the continent’s mindin a transnational fashion, with no regard to languages or borders.
Nora Bruckmüller, OÖ Nachrichten / 29.4.2025
Crossing Europe Film Festival’s 22nd edition offers a cinematic voyage through Europe’s burning issues. [...] Despite, or perhaps precisely because of, the current crises, festival co-directors Sabine Gebetsroither and Katharina Riedler have given this year’s edition of Crossing Europe Film Festival a positive motto [...]: “Don’t give up on Europe!”
Tiziana Aricò, ORF 2 / 30.4.2025
Until Sunday, the festival “Crossing Europe” in Linz is going to screen young, ambitious cinema made by filmmakers from all across Europe. More than 140 feature films, documentaries, and short films from 42 countries will be shown under the title “Don’t give up Europe.”
orf.at / 30.4.2025
The European world of film will present itself in Linz for an entire six days. From 29 April to 4 May, the hearts of cinephiles, and those who have always wanted to become one, will be delighted by around 140 feature films, documentaries, and short films.
Mariella Moshammer, kulturbericht oö / April 2025
There is quite the amount of present time and attitude to be found in the outstanding program by artistic directors Katharina Riedler and Sabine Gebetsroither.
Julia Schafferhofer, Kleine Zeitung / 1.5.2025
The ideal location to sample a wide variety of auteur cinema from all across the continent.
Redmond Bacon, Journey Into Cinema / 1.5.2025
The 22nd Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz focuses on new European cinema in all its forms, from political commentary to elegant escapism.
Gini Brenner, Salzburger Nachrichten / 2.5.2025
Along with its well-thought-out curating, Crossing Europe most notably stands out due to its attention to the audience. The festival is easily accessible and strives to break through bubbles. There are filmmakers ready to engage in a dialog with the rather heterogeneous audience after almost every screening, the outcome being much less uptight than in other places. The festival’s other topics include a changing working world, local filmmaking, and architecture. One could be inclined to criticize the lack of a clear thematic focus, that the festival wanted too much at once. But the actual fact is that diversity and openness are its strengths. This kind of cinematic panopticon on the relevant issues of Europe is hard to find anywhere else.
Florian Bayer, taz / 5.5.2025
A central topic in Linz was how the political and personal present is affected by the past.
Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf, Deutschlandfunk / 5.5.2025
The festival provides ample opportunity to comfortably take time, let the films sink in, and reflect on what you’ve just seen. And also to make new acquaintances, meet familiar faces, and discuss the films, their topics, as well as technical details. This is proof of an open and human approach to cinema, which is communicated and lived by the festival heads and the entire team. The low-threshold communication of film and cinema can be felt in the program and all across the festival.
Oskar Fleischanderl, subtext.at / 6.5.2025
Films created in real time, in order to understand life: The 22nd Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz celebrates the continent’s creative wealth.
Katrin Hillgruber, artechock.de / 8.5.2025
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, the festival has been supporting Ukraine through films, and has annually presented films from Ukraine and films by Ukrainian filmmakers. Very powerful stories and Ukrainian themes in Linz were presented in feature films that, paradoxically, show neither the front lines nor the fury of war. Still, we can feel war’s latent presence in them.
Martina Vacková, FILM A DOBA/ 9.5.2025
For a few days in spring, this place sees the idea of community alive, sees film lovers from European countries, big and small, coming together to demonstrate that an exchange and communication across differences and borders is possible.
Alexandra Seitz, epd Film / 14.5.2025
This is why, thanks to its rich and diverse selection, “Crossing Europe” is the ideal place to discover current trends in the film industry and to find out the current direction of European cinema’s evolution.
Mihai Fulger, Viața Românească / June 2025
