HISTOFEST. History on Full Blast

Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/10/2026 - 09/10/2026
5:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Location
Europa Experience Kirchberg & Ciné Utopia

Categories


HISTOFEST 2026: The (un)making of heroes

With the 2025 edition of the HISTOFEST. History on Full Blast festival we demonstrated that history can be done in a mall, while this year we are joining forces with the European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO) Luxembourg that will co-host two of the three festival days at the Europa Experience visitors centre and display the exhibition “The (un)making of heroes” for a month, i.e. from 7 October to 7 November 2026.

The title of the exhibition reveals this year’s focus: HEROES, while our guests and partners line-up provides for an even more pronounced European perspective.

What makes a hero? How has the notion evolved over time: who was regarded as a hero in the past and who is a hero today? Is there such a thing as enduring historical greatness or is heroism, after all, something beyond illustriousness and pedestals? Do we need (new) heroes in Europe today? If so, which ones and what for?

We will look for answers to these and other questions from 7 to 9 October 2026 with the help of two exhibitions, hands-on activities, three film screenings (all Luxembourg premieres!), and a roundtable.

Histofest 2026: The (Un)making of Heroes

In collaboration with the House of European History (HEH) Brussels we are inviting audiences in Luxembourg to engage with a carefully curated selection of works by photo and video artists Niels Ackermann, Mine Dal, Piotr Małecki, and Ria Pacquée. The exhibited photographs and video work explore the ways in which historical figures such as Leopold II, King of the Belgians (1835-1909), the first leader of the Soviet Union Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), the founder of the Turkish republic, and one of the longest serving Roman Catholic pontiffs, Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), are publicly or privately (un)celebrated. Dr Simina Bădică, curator at the House of European History, will moderate a hands-on activity in the exhibition on the day of the vernissage.

How “ordinary” men and women deal with greatness is the topic of two short films by Warsaw-based director Michał Toczek, Be Somebody (2023) and Spiritus Sanctus (2026), which we will show on 7 October 2026, the first day of the festival. The screening, followed by a Q&A with Michał Toczek was made possible thanks to our partnership with the European Documentation Centre at the University of Luxembourg (EDC-UNI LU). Festival visitors will also be able to take a deeper look at the Polish Solidarity movement and the heroisation of its leader Lech Wałęsa thematized, among others, in the first film thanks to the display “The Polish Solidarity Movement in a Few Objects” featuring items from the Archive of the KARTA Center Foundation Warsaw.

The second day of the festival invites the audience to partake in the vicissitudes of a man who somewhat unwillingly becomes a hero overnight. The man is Micha, a video-store owner and the protagonist of Berlin Hero (2025), who is “discovered” by a journalist shortly before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and portrayed as the main organizer of a mass escape from East Germany. Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße (original title) is Wolfgang Becker’s (1954-2024) last film, and it will have its Luxembourg premiere at Ciné Utopia on 8 October 2026. The German filmmaker is most widely known internationally as the director of the tragicomedy Goodbye, Lenin! (2003). After the screening there will be a talk with Dr Jacqueline Boysen, managing director of the Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl Stiftung, about German memory culture and the reappraisal of the country’s communist past.

The Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl Stiftung, based in Berlin, is the co-host of the roundtable that is taking place on 9 October 2026, the third and last day of the festival. Constanze Itzel (director of the House of European History), Jean-Claude Juncker (formerly PM of Luxembourg and President of the European Commission) and Charles Goerens (MEP, Renew Group) will discuss whether we need new heroes in Europe today in a panel moderated by Dr Jacqueline Boysen.

HISTOFEST visitors will additionally have the opportunity to learn more about the work of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary History (C²DH) and our partners—The European Parliament Liaison Office (EPLO)/Europa Experience Luxembourg, the European Documentation Centre at the University of Luxembourg (EDC-UNI LU), the House of European History (HEH) Brussels, and the Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl Stiftung Berlin—with the help of dedicated stands at the festival venue.

Wednesday, 7 October 2026 at Europa Experience Kirchberg

Europa Experience Kirchberg, 17, Avenue John F. Kennedy, Adenauer Building, Luxembourg-Kirchberg; Tram stop: Parlement européen

Participation is free of charge, but registration with ID is required, online (up to 24 hours before the event) or on-site (on the day of the event). Register here. 

Thursday, 8 October 2026 at Ciné Utopia

Ciné Utopia, 16 Avenue de la Faiencerie, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg

  • 18.30

    Doors open

  • 19.00

    Introduction

  • 19.15- 21.10

    Berlin Hero (OV with English subtitles)

    Film by Wolfgang Becker

  • 21.10 – 21.45

    Talk with Dr Jacqueline Boysen (Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl Stiftung, Berlin), moderated by Dr Dora Komnenović (C²DH)

No registration required. Free tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Friday, 9 October 2026 at Europa Experience Kirchberg

Europa Experience Kirchberg, 17 Avenue John F. Kennedy, Adenauer Building, Luxembourg-Kirchberg; Tram stop: Parlement européen

  • 11.00 – 12.30

    “Do we need (new) heroes in Europe today?”

    Roundtable with Charles Goerens (MEP, Renew Europe Group), Dr Constanze Itzel (Director of the House of European History, Brussels) and Jean-Claude Juncker (formerly PM of Luxembourg and President of the European Commission), moderated by Dr Jacqueline Boysen (Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl Stiftung, Berlin)

    • German with English interpretation

  • Reception

  • Optional: exhibition tour and hands-on activity

Participation is free of charge, but registration with ID is required, online (up to 24 hours before the event) or on-site (on the day of the event). Register here.