Jérôme Vandewattyne, a seasoned director of commercials, web-series and other TV programmes, has just kicked off filming on his new feature film The Belgian Wave [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película]. After making an impression in 2017 by way of Spit’n’Split [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], a totally nutty documentary and self-proclaimed mythomaniac rock tale about the Liege-based group The Experimental Trois Blues Band, the filmmaker is making his return with a lightweight production entitled The Belgian Wave, which examines a period in modern Belgian history which is as heavily mocked as it is revered: the wave of UFO sightings recorded at the end of the 80s.

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In the early 90s, journalist Marc Varenberg disappeared with his cameraman in mysterious circumstances while investigating this Belgian Wave. Almost thirty years later, two web-reporters re-open the investigation to find out what really happened. The filmmaker has devised a fictitious tale tinged with truth, an entertaining and once again seriously off-the-wall, tragi-comic film which plays on these events that have since become a key component of pop culture.

What’s striking in this story is the fact that the Belgian government has been the only authority since the end of the 80s to not deny the existence of UFOs, which has made them a laughing stock in the eyes of their international counterparts, and notably America.

In this sense, the strong dose of Belgian-ness infused into the film isn’t entirely surprising and is  dished out by a diverse cast, led by theatre actor Dominique Rongvaux, actor and director Karim Barras (seen in the most recent OSS 117 : From Africa With Love [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] film and the series Les Rivières Pourpres, as well as The Break, and recently the director of the short films La Piscine and Le Canapé in league with Baptiste Sornin) and Belgian humourist and actress Karen De Paduwa.

Hugely influenced by alternative Belgian music culture, the filmmaker intends to make full use of the freedom of tone afforded by national subsidies for lightweight productions, in order to shine a different light on marginal and colourful circles and characters.

For the record, this provision launched in 2017 by the Wallonia Brussels Federation Film Centre  offers up production subsidies to projects set to be made with modest technical means (in terms of both crews and material) in order to fall within a limited budget as delineated from the outset (generally speaking, between €250,000 and €400,000). This initiative has given rise to films including Madly in Life [+lee también:
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entrevista: Raphaël Balboni y Ann Sirot
ficha de la película] by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (scooping 7 prizes, including Best Film, at the Magritte Film Awards), Aya [+lee también:
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entrevista: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
ficha de la película] by Simon Coulibaly Gillard (selected in ACID in 2021) and Mother Schmuckers [+lee también:
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entrevista: Harpo y Lenny Guit
ficha de la película] by Lenny and Harpo Guit (selected for Sundance).

The Belgian Wave is produced by Alon Knoll and Gregory Zalcman on behalf of Take Five, with the support of the Wallonia Brussels Federation, RTL and BeTV in co-production, alongside Screen.brussels and the Tax Shelter.