email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

MONS 2021

Happy return to cinemas for the Mons International Film Festival

by 

- The festival was the last one to take place in Belgium in 2020 before the first lockdown, and will be the first to take place entirely in person in 2021

Happy return to cinemas for the Mons International Film Festival
Gaza mon amour by Tarzan and Arab Nasser

The Festival International du Film de Mons just announced its programme for its 36th edition, which will take place entirely in person. Traditionally planned for the end of winter, the festival will exceptionally be held this year at the beginning of summer, from 9 to 16 July. All the elements that make the spirit of the festival will be there, with the International Competition, premieres, meetings, and a spotlight on Belgian cinema. 

The International Competition will present 10 films hitherto unseen in Belgium. In diametrically opposed genres, we will discover Amigo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Spanish filmmaker Óscar Martín, a horrific tale with very dark humour that showed in Sitges, the dramatic comedy My Wonderful Wanda [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bettina Oberli
film profile
]
by Bettina Oberli (Switzerland) and the Serbian social drama Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srdan Golubović
film profile
]
by Srdan Glubovic, discovered in the Panorama section at Berlinale 2020. Two French features will be on the programme, benefiting from the Critics’ Week label from Cannes 2020: Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Naël Marandin and Gold for Dogs [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Anna Cazenave Cambet. Sweat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile
]
by Swedish director Magnus Von Horn, which also got the Cannes 2020 label, is a co-production with Poland that follows the daily life of a fitness coach and Instagram influencer. Another Polish film present is I Never Cry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piotr Domalewski
film profile
]
by Piotr Domalewski, seen last year in the New Directors section in San Sebastian, a coming of age story with intra-european immigration as its backdrop. Lastly, we will note the selections of Russian film The Whaler Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philipp Yuryev
film profile
]
by Philipp Yuryev (co-produced with Poland and Belgium, and winner of the GdA Director’s Award at the Giornate degli Autori in Venice last year), Kazakh production Yellow Cat [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Adilkhan Yerzhanov, and Palestinian film Gaza mon amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Tarzan and Arab Nasser, a French, German, Portuguese and Qatar co-production, the last two of which had been presented in the Orizzonti section in the latest edition of the Venice Film Festival. 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The festival will also highlight Belgian cinema (with exclusive feature films and special screenings) and, most importantly, young talents from the country with a dedicated short film competition. A conference about cinema professionals will ask the questions “Where are female directors in the history of cinema? What is the place of women in the film industry? What are the sexist stereotypes conveyed through films and what are the solutions to get out of this paradigm?” and will project the short films of the Female Gaze collection imagined by Sarah Carlot Jaber, Alice Godart, Aude Verbiguié Soum, Juliette Klinke, Léa Rogliano and Salomé Richard with the support of the Elles font des films collective.

Moreover, the festival will programme 14 Belgian premieres, including The Big Hit [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Emmanuel Courcol, which will be the opening film, and My Father’s Stories [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Jean-Pierre Améris which will close the event. The festival will also pay homage to filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael on 11 July. 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French by Manuela Lazic)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy