06/02/2012

This Saturday, February 4, Brussels held its second Magritte du cinéma, an awards ceremony for a Belgian francophone audience. At the André Delvaux Academy, members of the profession chose Bouli Lanners as new prince of Belgian cinema. He was awarded the Magritte for Best Director and Magritte for Best Film for Les Géants [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Bouli Lanners
film profile], a film that also swept away the Awards for Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture, and Best Original Soundtrack. Lanners started his career as an actor, and today has over 40 films to his name. The Snuls, a television series for Canal+ Belgium, kickstarted his popularity in the early 1990s. From 1995 he moved behind the camera, but it was only in 2008 that he received praise from audiences and critics alike with his second feature film Eldorado that was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, making him an eminent figure of Belgian cinema. His latest Magritte awards further confirm his status.

The other great winner at the Magritte was the Flemish film Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile] by Michael Roskam. With excellent dubbing, it took the prestigious Award for Best Screenplay, the Award for Best Montage, and the Award for Best Flemish Co-production, as well as the Magritte for Best Actor received by the impressive Matthias Schoenaerts.

But the real surprise of the evening were the losers. When nominees were announced, two Belgian films who had been to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival were expected to do well: Les Géants, of course, but also The Kid with a Bike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile] that won the Jury Prize in Cannes. But, although young actor Thomas Doret received the Magritte statuette for Most Promising Actor, confirming yet again the Dardenne brothers' incredible talent in revealing promising young actors, their film won nothing at the Magritte Awards. Without questionning the awards received by Les Géants, one is however led to think that this year Belgian film professionals chose to renew an unofficial established hierarchy. The Dardenne brothers are omnipresent and almost atypical in the regularity and quality of their films, yet this week-end they seem to have to have proven the saying: No man is a prophet in his own country.

Best Director
Bouli Lanners - Les Géants
Best Actress
Lubna Azabal - Incendies
Best Actor
Matthias Schoenaerts - Bullhead
Best Film
Les Géants - Bouli Lanners
Best Flemish Film in Co-production
Bullhead - Michael R. Roskam
Best Foreign Film in Co-production
Romantics Anonymous [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] - Jean-Pierre Améris
Best Screenplay or Adaptation
Michael R. Roskam - Bullhead
Best Supporting Actress
Gwen Berrou - Les Géants
Best Supporting Actor
Jérémie Renier - Potiche [+see also:
trailer
film profile]
Most Promising Actress
Erika Sainte - Elle ne pleure pas, elle chante [+see also:
trailer
film profile]
Most Promising Actor
Thomas Doret - The Kid with a Bike
Best Picture
Jean-Paul Zaetijd - Les Géants
Best Sound
Fred Meert, Hélène Lamy-Au-Rousseau, and Emmanuel De Boissieu - The Fairy
Best Montage
Alain Dessauvage - Bullhead
Best Production Design
Véronique Sacrez - Quartier Lointain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
film profile]
Best Costumes
Claire Dubien - La Fée [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon
film profile]
Best Original Soundtrack
The Bony King of Nowhere by Bram Van Parys - Les Géants
Best Short Film
Sundays - Valéry Rosier
Best Documentary
LoveMEATender - Manu Coeman

(Translated from French)