Films in store for 2009
The year 2008 was a successful one for Flemish film: the figures – still rolling in – currently stand at almost 2m admissions, representing an increase of 70% compared to 2007 and a 10% market share for Flemish film. Meanwhile, 2009 looks set to bring confirmation of emerging talents and outstanding returns for Francophone Belgian producers.
The focus of much curiosity, Jaco Van Dormael’s new film, Mr Nobody, will have a hard time living up to the enormous expectations it has raised. Scheduled – certainly not by coincidence – for release in May, the film is very likely to screen on the Croisette.
Initial reviews have been highly laudatory, but this international mega-production (between Belgium, France, Canada and Germany) – made for a colossal €32m – will struggle to achieve the same success as Van Dormael’s previous two works, Toto the Hero and The Eighth Day, which both won awards at Cannes.
Spring should also be the opportunity for viewers to discover the highly anticipated LaVie Extraordinaire de Sœur Sourire (“The Extraordinary Life of Sister Smile”). The film – starring Cécile de France – is the first French-language work by Flemish box office champion Stijn Coninx.
The same period will see the release of another Films de la passerelle production: Thierry Michel’s new Congo-set documentary, Katanga. Significantly, the latter two titles received financial backing from the Film Centre, VAF and Wallimage.
The heroes of comical animated film A Town Called Panic should delight their fans and attract new ones when they hit screens (perhaps in June). The title is directed by close collaborators Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier, and produced by La Parti in partnership with Made In (France) and Mélusine (Luxembourg).
Other films set for release in 2009 include Diego Martinez Vignatti’s La Chanteuse de Tango (“The Tango Singer”) and Nabil Ben Yadir’s Les Barons (Entre Chien et Loup), Hand of the Headless Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Stéphane and Guillaume Malandrin (La Parti) and Bernard Bellefroid’s La Régate (Artémis Productions).
Versus Production will set the ball rolling with the release of Joachim Lafosse’s Private Lessons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques-Henri Bronckart
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] on January 21 and Fien Troch’s Unspoken [+see also:
trailer
film profile] on February 18.
(Translated from French)
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