26/06/2008

Literary adaptations are proving to be popular this year in Flanders, and Hans Herbots certainly isn’t complaining. The director of the 2006 Belgian box office hit, Stormforce, has scooped a double triumph, as two of his projects are to receive backing from the Vlaams Audiovisual Fund following its June 2008 committee session.

Het Engelenhuis (produced by Het productiehuis) was awarded a development grant in April. With the additional production funding worth €600,000, Herbots will now be able to bring to the big screen the eponymous novel by Dirk Bracke, the Flemish author who has enjoyed success among teenage readers.

Herbots will then set to work on the screen adaptation (produced by Eyeworks Productions) of the first volume of a satirical trilogy by Tom Lanoye, a true literary star in Flanders. Het Goddelijke Monster takes an ironic and uncompromising look at Flanders today. The film received €75,000 in development funding.

Crowned with honours at Cannes for Moscow, Belgium [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Christophe van Rompaey has started production on Blanco. Adapted from a book by Peter Terrin, the project attracted attention at the Berlinale Co-production Market.

Shooting on Stijn Coninckx’s Sœur Sourire (“Sister Smile”) – which retraces the life of Sister Dominique and stars Cécile de France – will begin in July. Meanwhile, the director is preparing a biopic about another singer, Rocco Granada. Set to be produced by Eyeworks, Marina received a writing grant worth €12,500.

Finally, the VAF is backing majority Walloon production L’Envahisseur (“The Invader”) by Nicolas Provost, the prodigious director of short films. This debut feature is centred on the protagonist of Provost’s previous title Exoticore (which won awards at numerous festivals). L’Envahisseur recounts the descent into hell of a man from Burkina-Faso who sinks into immigration limbo.

Produced by Prime Time for Flanders and Versus Productions on the French-speaking side, the film has also been allocated production funding from the Film and Audiovisual Centre of the French Community of Belgium.

(Translated from French)