Young talent at Festival of Belgian Cinema

by Anne Feuillère

18/12/2007 - The Festival of Belgian Cinema, which runs from December 26-30 in Brussels, will offer a panorama of this year’s major Belgian productions. The programmed retrospective of films, short screenings and avant-premières comprises a strong selection of burgeoning Flemish cinema as most of the titles are by young directors.

Ahead of the release on January 21 of Dimitri Karakatsanis’ beautiful debut feature Small Gods [trailer] (see Special Report), viewers will have a chance to rediscover works by two other exponents of the Flemish New Wave: With Friends Like These [trailer], the second feature by Felix van Groeningen (see interview), who is working on his third film; and Ex Drummer [trailer] by Koen Mortier, who will unveil his latest project (see news) at Rotterdam’s CineMart.

Two other Flemish films also on the programme are Nic Balthazar’s superb debut feature Ben X [trailer, film focus] (see news) and the light-hearted and touching comedy A Perfect Match by Miel Van Hoogenbemt, who is also currently working on his third feature.

The line-up of Francophone films includes Cages [trailer] by Olivier Masset-Depasse, Micha Wald’s Horse Thieves [trailer] and the new member of the Bronckart family, Joachim Lafosse’s Private Property [trailer], which will be screened as his fourth film, the Versus-produced Elève Libre (“Free Pupil”), is in post-production (see news).

Sam Garbarski’s Irina Palm [trailer, film focus] (see Focus), Marion Hänsel’s Sounds of Sand [trailer] and Alain Berliner’s Gone for a Dance are also on the slate.

Screening in avant-première, before its spring 2008 release, is the debut feature by young director Delphine Lehericey, Comme à Ostende (“As In Ostend”, see Special Report), a daring and successful first film produced by director Frédéric Fonteyne for Entre Chien et Loup.

(Translated from French)