10/09/2002 - This year’s exhibition of French Speaking Cinema begins on September 27, with a tribute to the cinema of Quebec

The programme of this 17th edition of the Festival of French Speaking Cinema at Namur will include films in French never released before in Belgium, tributes and meetings for professionals. From next September 27 to October 4 there will 11 feature films in competition for the “Golden Bayards” which will be awarded by an international jury led by the Canadian singer Richard Charlebois.
The films in competition include Aime ton père by Jacob Berger (Switzerland and France), A+ Pollux by Luc Pagès (France), Heremakono en attendant le bonheur by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritiana), Le miroir du fou by Narjiss Nejjar (Morocco), Quebec-Montreal by Ricardo Trogi (Quebec – 2002).
The opening film of the Festival will be Embrassez qui vous voudrez by Michel Blanc while to close the event, the organisers have arranged for a screening of the latest film by the Dardenne brothers, Figli.
Il Festival will be paying tribute to Cinema from Quebec, with a selection of 10 recent films on the programme, along with two stars of French cinema: Jean Rochefort e Carole Laure.
There’ll also be a series of meetings between artists and workers in the sector, focusing on French speaking cinema. The subject of the round table discussion being held on October 2 will be the politics surrounding the support for the distribution and production of French speaking works. Taking part in the meeting will be the French community Cinematographic Centre in Belgium, the French National Cinematographic Centre, the Union of French Speaking Film Producers’ , the TV channel TV5, and Jacques Delmoly, from the European Commission should also be involved. On October 3, the Society for French Artists Rights, SACD, has organised a meeting between artists and industry workers to debate problems with writing.