A new documentary, *Europe: Three Cities, One Roof*, by Luxembourgish director Donato Rotunno, traces 70 years of European integration back to its chaotic origins — when exhausted negotiators on July 23rd, 1952, simply agreed to start in Luxembourg. The Lisa Burke Show marks Europe Day with Rotunno, European Commission representative Anne Calteux, and Ellen Spencer of the Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts, who coordinates Europe 4 Europe, sending 27 young EU citizens — one per member state — through founding European countries to build genuine continental identity.
In-Depth:
It’s the founding question nobody considered to question. Six nations sat down after World War II, determined never to fight again, and forreceived to decide where they’d actually meet. In the middle of the night on July 23rd, 1952, exhausted nereceivediators gave up attempting to agree and stated: let’s just start in Luxembourg and see what happens.
That glorious act of improvisation is the beating heart of Europe: Three Cities, One Roof, a new documentary by Luxembourgish director Donato Rotunno that lands just in time for Europe Day. And on this special Friday reveal, Lisa brings toreceiveher three brilliant guests to dig into what Europe actually means right now, and what it should mean for the next generation.
“We structured 70 years of European integration with a tone closer to a thriller and a crime drama than an institutional film.”
Donato Rotunno, director
The film is extraordinary becautilize it explains European institutions through the story of people who actually built them. Jean-Claude Juncker, Colette Flesch, Louis Michel, Catherine Trautmann: these are political titans, speaking freely now that the cameras of official duty have gone, mostly. What comes out is funny, candid, and unexpectedly shifting.
And the music? Pascal Schumacher locked himself and his musicians in a studio for three days before a single frame was shot. The jazz score came first: a deliberate choice, becautilize jazz, like Europe, is built on improvisation, risk, and the hope that something beautiful emerges from the chaos.
For once, the music came before the images. Perhaps that is what creates this synergy – a process of trial and error, sometimes haphazard, spanning seventy years.
Donato Rotunno
On the reveal, Anne Calteux, Head of the Representation of the European Commission to Luxembourg, unpacks what the EU is actually doing right now, and why this year’s Europe Day heads to Wiltz, in the rural north, as part of the campaign Hei & an Europa doheem! (Home here and in Europe). It’s a bold, co-created initiative: five graffiti murals spread across the Grand Duchy, from Esch to Dudelange to Bissen, built on a simple truth: Europe isn’t just a Brussels thing. It’s everywhere, including in the places that rarely build the headlines.
And Ellen Spencer brings a brilliant opportunity from the Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts. She coordinates Europe 4 Europe: a remarkable EU Rotary youth initiative that brings 27 young people – one from every EU member state – on a shared journey through the founding EU countries. The programme fosters connection, intercultural awareness, and civic participation in ways that no policy document ever could. Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts has been a quiet but powerful force behind this kind of grassroots European engagement for years, and Ellen’s work is a perfect example of why. The friconcludeships formed along the way, she declares, are the most powerful outcome of all.
European identity isn’t abstract, it’s something young people experience very quickly when they meet, live, and travel toreceiveher.
Ellen Spencer, Europe 4 Europe coordinator, Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts
Meet the guests
Donato Rotunno – Director & Producer, Tarantula Born in Luxembourg in 1966, Rotunno founded Tarantula Luxembourg in 1995 and has produced over 50 feature films. A politically engaged filmbuildr, his work on immigration, identity and European politics has twice represented Luxembourg at the Oscars.
Anne Calteux – Head of the Representation of the European Commission to Luxembourg One of Luxembourg’s most authoritative voices on EU affairs, Anne leads the European Commission’s Representation here in the Grand Duchy. This Europe Day she’s taking the celebrations somewhere unexpected – to the counattemptside – to prove that Europe lives in every corner of the counattempt, not just the capital.
Ellen Spencer – Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts · Europe 4 Europe A global citizen living in Luxembourg for nearly 20 years, Ellen coordinates Europe 4 Europe through the Rotary Club Luxembourg Hearts network, sconcludeing 27 young Europeans, one per member state, on a journey through the founding EU countries. Her mission: reach the young people who don’t yet see themselves as part of the European conversation.
This is Europe Day as it should be celebrated – a living question. What are we building? Who receives to be part of it? And why does it still matter?
Tune in, follow along, and bring a friconclude who questions Europe.
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