Press Release 7/26

On 3 May, after six sunny and dynamic festival days, the 23^rd Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz came to a successful close. The provincial capital of Upper Austria once again became the scene of the present, past, and future of European cinema, with 133 feature, documentary, and short films from 39 nations, including 13 world and 68 Austrian premieres. Around 80 film guests personally presented their latest works in the festival cinemas Moviemento, City-Kino, and Central, engaging directly with the audience, who once again showed their great interest, involvement, and openness.

This year’s festival motto, “Family Ties”, ran through the entire festival program in various ways and was met with a lot of positive and, at times, emotional responses both during the film screenings and in the subsequent talks. Apart from the resonance of deeply personal stories, the spirit of the “European family” could also be felt at the festival center around OK Platz and in the entire city center: The festival presented itself as a forum for meeting and community. In addition to the reactions of the cinema audiences, it was also the media coverage and remarks during the opening and award ceremonies that underlined the fact that sociopolitical cinema has an indispensable home in Crossing Europe.

In addition to the film screenings, the supporting program was also very positively received, including, among other things, the international Industry Afternoon, which was successfully continued this year. The three Nightline nights, which included a co-operation with Linzpride and an evening at Posthof, were also very well attended. The YAAAS! Youth Program successfully took place for the eighth time – expanded with another low-threshold offer for youths and young adults in the form of Club YAAAS! A screening for children was also offered for the second time. In the context of the European festival network MOVING IMAGES – OPEN BORDERS, Crossing Europe was, for the first time, a host of the Lab of Cultural, Creative and Festival Journalism, an offer for six cultural journalists from throughout Europe. Held for the seventh time, the Cinema Next Europe Club offered a group of young Austrian filmmakers a multi-day film campus.

The awards ceremony on 2 May saw cash and material prizes totaling around €27,000 awarded by the international juries, as well as the MIOB New Vision Award (€3,000) by the European festival network Moving Images – Open Borders. The award winners’ list can be found HERE.
 

With 14,000 festivalgoers, attendance was nearly on par with last year's

Crossing Europe attracted approximately 14,000 visitors in 2026, including around 500 accredited industry guests, and managed to maintain roughly the same level as the previous year despite consistently sunny spring weather and near-midsummer temperatures over the weekend (compared to 2025: 14,500).
 
In the spirit of gender-balanced programming, the film directors were distributed as follows: approximately 47% female, approximately 41% male, approximately 1% diverse, and approximately 12% mixed female/male/diverse co-direction.

In addition to the four competition sections (Competition Fiction, Competition Documentary, YAAAS! Competition, and Competition Local Artists), the established sections Tribute (“Golden Eighties”), Working Worlds (“At the Limit –  And No End”), Architecture and Society (“Displacement and the Displaced”), European Panorama Fiction & Documentary (highlights of the current festival season), and Night Sight (dedicated to fantastic film) were also part of the program structure. In the Local Artists program section, which focuses on filmmaking with ties to Upper Austria, a special was dedicated this year to the renowned artist duo PRINZpod. 

In 2026, concrete steps were once again taken toward sustainable, climate-friendly festival management, and Crossing Europe was once again awarded the “GreenEvent OÖ” label. During the award ceremony, festival directors Sabine Gebetsroither and Katharina Riedler were presented with the “Green Event Upper Austria” certificate by Norbert Rainer, Executive Director of Klimabündnis OÖ, and Tanja Desgeorges (also of Klimabündnis OÖ).

Looking Ahead to 2027

Like the past three years, 2026 was not an easy year for the cultural sector as a whole, particularly in terms of funding and the broader economic climate—and this was also true for Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz. Apart from the fact that the organizational effort and associated costs in some areas are rising year after year due to inflation and are thus becoming harder to manage, the festival has already faced initial cuts from individual funding bodies and partners this year, as well as losses among sponsors. This year’s edition was still able to take place on the planned scale, but the future scope of the festival no longer seems secure at this time. The successes and stability of recent years, despite numerous challenges, demonstrate that Crossing Europe is, of course, an integral part of Austria, Upper Austria, and Linz.

However, maintaining this scale will require a clear commitment—ideally with the prospect of multi-year funding—from funding agencies and partners. In this context, the introduction of a streaming levy—also known as an investment contribution—in combination with an earmarked levy (a levy for film distribution, among other things) would be an important step toward securing the future of cinemas, film festivals, and film distribution companies throughout Austria.

Issues such as sustainable festival operations and “fair pay” must not be sidelined despite the challenging financial situation and remain—or are even more so—a prerequisite for organizing the festival. Cultural work is work and deserves fair compensation (quoted from IG Kultur Österreich). That said, Crossing Europe is creative and adaptable, and will continue to rise to the challenge of organizing an internationally oriented cultural event at a high level in terms of both organization and content.