06/04/2005

Last Sunday, Bruno Dumont settled for three weeks in Tozer, in the midst of the South Tunisian desert, to shoot his fourth film —after La vie de Jésus (1996), L’Humanité (1999 –two prizes in Cannes), and Twentynine Palms [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2003)—, Flandres. The film actually started shooting on the 14th of February and stayed two weeks in Bailleul, in the French part of Flanders. It should take nine weeks altogether. In May and June, the team will go back to Bailleul twice, each time for a fortnight. Bailleul is the director’s birthplace and it is where he shot his first two movies.

After a hectic period spent on the controversial Twenty-nine Palms [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Bruno Dumont comes back to his favourite places and resumes working with non-professional actors. Flandres explores the consequences of war through the story of a group of young men from Flanders who are called to fight far away from home. The plot is set in a contemporary context ; it depicts the young men’s arrival at the front, the friendly relationships between soldiers, all the waiting and the fear, the misery and the horror of war, and finally shows how hard it is when they come back home to go back to be the men they used to be.

This €2M film is produced by Jean Bréhat and Rachid Bouchareb for 3B Productions with which Bruno Dumont has worked for all his feature films. Flandres was supported by Arte France Cinéma (400,000 euros, including 150,000 for broadcasting). The film also benefitted from a €450,000 advance-on-benefits allowed by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), and a €200,000 special help from the Regional Audiovisual Services Centre of Nord-Pas de Calais (CCRAV). The film will be launched in France before mid-2006 by Tadrart Films ; Films Distribution will handle international sales.

(Translated from French)