31.01.2026
Fabio Bottani is an Italian-Luxembourgish filmmaker. His debut medium-length feature, L’Arrivée de la Jeunesse, explores a century of Italian immigration in Luxembourg. Born in Milan and raised in Luxembourg from the age of five, he grew up surrounded by the traces of the country’s industrial past, shaped by thousands of workers who arrived from southern Europe in the early 1900s.
Blending fiction and archival material, the film follows a single Italian family from 1908 to today, using their journey as a thread to explore identity, migration, and belonging. Produced by PassaParola Group and co-financed by Esch 2022, the project was filmed across Luxembourg, with significant archival contributions from the CNA in Dudelange.
For Bottani, this story is both personal and universal. The migration that transformed Luxembourg is often forgotten, despite its profound cultural impact. The film pays tribute to those who left everything behind to offer a better future to the generations that followed. It also reflects on the recurring challenges faced by newcomers, from discrimination to today’s language barrier in an increasingly multilingual country.
Through its hybrid form and century-spanning narrative, L’Arrivée de la Jeunesse offers a unique cinematic perspective on how immigration has shaped Luxembourg and continues to define its identity.