Toronto’s Belgians take us to the four corners of the world

by Aurore Engelen

20/08/2012 - The Toronto International Film Festival will be held from September 6 to 16 in Canada. Since its creation, the non-competitive event has been known as the "festival of festivals". It usually includes a huge amount of American premieres of films already screened at European film festivals. With a programme of over 300 films, Toronto is not only the biggest North American film festival, but also its biggest film market, and is an important point of entry to these territories. For the many Belgian projects to be screened there this year, the festival is a fabulous opportunity to broaden the scope of their international sales.

In the Contemporary World Cinema section, three atypical projects have notably been selected: Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s Kinshasa Kids [trailer, film focus], also to be screened the week before at the Venice Days (read more), and Jonas d'Adesky’s first feature, Twa Timoun [trailer, festival scope], produced by Hélicotronc and to make its world premiere at the festival. In the film, three 12-year-old boys, Vitaleme, Pierre and Mikenson, struggle to survive on the streets of Port-au-Prince after running away from their boarding school during the 2010 Haitan earthquake. And then there will be Comrade Kim Goes Flying (photo) by Anja Daelemans, Nicholas Bonner, and Kim Gwang Hun, a film that will go down in history as the first production funded by Western money to be shot entirely in North Korea. This romantic comedy tells the story of a young woman working in a coal mine who dreams of becoming an acrobat. Anja Daelamans, the film’s Belgian co-director, also co-produced the film through her production company Another Dimension of an Idea.

The TIFF Kids section will feature Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier, and Benjamin Renner’s Ernest & Celestine [trailer, film focus] and Vincent Bal’s Nono, the Zig Zag Kid (a Dutch co-production). The Fifth Season [trailer, film focus] by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth will be screened in the Wavelengths section, while Patrice Leconte’s animated film The Suicide Shop [trailer] (a French co-production) will be shown at a special screening.

(Translated from French)