HISTOFEST. History on Full Blast

Spectacle & Culture

HISTOFEST explore la notion de héros en Europe à travers l’exposition « The (un)making of heroes », des activités participatives, des projections de films et une table ronde. La sélection de photographies et de courts métrages aborde notamment les figures de Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Lech Wałęsa, Lénine, Léopold II et le pape Jean-Paul II, ainsi que des personnes ordinaires confrontées à la notion de grandeur. Ce texte n’est pas disponible en français. With the 2025 edition of the festival we demonstrated that history can be done in a mall, while this year we are putting the Europa Experience / the European Parliament Luxembourg and Ciné Utopia to the test with a focus on…HEROES. 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? Do we need (new) heroes in Europe? If so, which ones and what for? We will look for answers to these and other questions from October 7 to 9, 2026 with the help of the exhibition “The (un)making of heroes” (which will be on display until early November), hands-on activities, three film screenings (all Luxembourg premieres!), and a roundtable. Our handpicked selection of photographs and (short) films will feature personalities such as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Lech Wałęsa, Lenin, Leopold II, and Pope John Paul II, but also “ordinary” men and women that find themselves measuring their own lives and deeds against “greatness”. Is heroism, after all, something beyond illustriousness and pedestals?