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RELEASES Belgium

Saga Film releases Mirage d’Amour in Belgium

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- Today marks the Belgian release of the feature debut by producer Hubert Toint, which is being distributed by its own production outfit

Saga Film releases Mirage d’Amour in Belgium
Marie Gillian and Eduardo Paxeco in Mirage d’Amour

Hubert Toint has decided to take on the task of distributing his film, Mirage d’Amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Toint
film profile
]
, in theatres himself. The situation for film distribution is fairly unusual in Belgium. On the Flemish side, Kinepolis (which also boasts the biggest network of movie theatres in the country) has a virtual monopoly on local productions, including arthouse films. Admittedly, there are some independent distributors, but they tend to work in the domain of movies made by international auteurs. On the French-speaking side, the situation is more complex. For Belgian French-language films with “proven” mainstream potential (as far as that is possible), the movies are often brought out by Belga. This was the case at the start of the 2015-2016 school year for The Brand New Testament [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco van Dormael
film profile
]
by Jaco Van Dormael. For so-called arthouse films, the “normal” and "historical" company up until around ten years ago used to be Cinéart. But with the rise in the number of releases, Cinéart has become more selective in its choices, and the producers of Belgian French-language films have had to seek out other distribution channels. This explains the founding of companies such as O’Brother, today an established outfit and the sister company of production house Versus. Of course, O’Brother brings out its “homemade” productions but also releases those by other Belgian auteurs, such as the recent title All Cats Are Grey [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

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Coming back to Mirage d’Amour, Saga, convinced of the film’s mainstream potential (an epic love story starring Marie Gillain, topped off with an ambitious historical reconstruction), has decided to launch the movie on something of a commercial circuit, buoyed by the support of one of the biggest advertising companies in Belgian cinema, Brightfish, which has backed the film through glitzy events such as preview screenings, and has given the trailer some impressive visibility. The film is coming out a few days ahead of Saint Valentine’s Day, and its lead actress, Marie Gillain, has had the honour of appearing in virtually all of Belgium’s French-language media outlets possible – especially because she was also the president for the Magritte Awards ceremony last weekend, otherwise known as the “Oscars” of Belgian French-language cinema. The movie is being released in seven multiplexes in Brussels and Wallonia.

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(Translated from French)

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