18/12/2007

The Festival of Belgian Cinema, which runs from December 26-30 in Brussels, will offer a panorama of this year’s major Belgian productions. The programmed retrospective of films, short screenings and avant-premières comprises a strong selection of burgeoning Flemish cinema as most of the titles are by young directors.

Ahead of the release on January 21 of Dimitri Karakatsanis’ beautiful debut feature Small Gods [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see Special Report), viewers will have a chance to rediscover works by two other exponents of the Flemish New Wave: With Friends Like These [+see also:
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
film profile], the second feature by Felix van Groeningen (see interview), who is working on his third film; and Ex Drummer [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Koen Mortier, who will unveil his latest project (see news) at Rotterdam’s CineMart.

Two other Flemish films also on the programme are Nic Balthazar’s superb debut feature Ben X [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nic Balthazar
interview: Peter Bouckaert
film profile] (see news) and the light-hearted and touching comedy A Perfect Match by Miel Van Hoogenbemt, who is also currently working on his third feature.

The line-up of Francophone films includes Cages [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Olivier Masset-Depasse, Micha Wald’s Horse Thieves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and the new member of the Bronckart family, Joachim Lafosse’s Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which will be screened as his fourth film, the Versus-produced Elève Libre (“Free Pupil”), is in post-production (see news).

Sam Garbarski’s Irina Palm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
interview: Sébastien Delloye
film profile] (see Focus), Marion Hänsel’s Sounds of Sand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Alain Berliner’s Gone for a Dance are also on the slate.

Screening in avant-première, before its spring 2008 release, is the debut feature by young director Delphine Lehericey, Comme à Ostende (“As In Ostend”, see Special Report), a daring and successful first film produced by director Frédéric Fonteyne for Entre Chien et Loup.

(Translated from French)