Liège falls for UK detective films

by Aurore Engelen

20/04/2009 - The Liège International Detective Film Festival closed on April 19. Created just three years ago, with the invaluable support of the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, the still little-known festival soon impressed visitors with a host of prestigious guests.

The first few hours of this third edition were a little chaotic, due to the participants’ poor organisation and the unexpected withdrawal of the event’s sponsor, Victoria Abril. Despite these hiccups, audiences saw numerous titles in avant-première, with an emphasis on European detective films, in the Spanish Focus section in particular.

Six of the eight films in competition were European. Not surprisingly, therefore, European thrillers dominated the awards presented by the jury and audiences.

Wolfgang Murnberger’s Austrian film The Bone Man [trailer] won Best Actress and the Youth Jury Award. The film is the director’s second adaptation of Wolf Haas’ work (after Silentium! [trailer], winner of the Grand Prize at the Cognac Detective Film Festival in 2006) and centres on the absurd adventures of a detective who, during a debt recovery operation, ends up in a kitchen unlike any other.

Andrea Molaioli’s Italian film The Girl by the Lake [trailer] – winner of multiple Davide di Donatello awards – picked up Best Screenplay.

Meanwhile, the rest of the prizes went to films hailing from the UK. Paris Leonti’s Daylight Robbery scooped the Audience Award, while Jag Mundhra’s Shoot on Sight won over the jury, earning Best Actor and Best Film.

Set against a backdrop of racial tension, Shoot on Sight tackles the difficult subject of the fight against Islamist terrorism in post-September 11 England. The film was produced by Cine Boutique Entertainment UK Limited.

(Translated from French)