Seven Belgian feature films win backing from screen.brussels
- Following its 22nd session, the Brussels-based regional investment fund will back new films by Guérin Van de Vorst and Sophie Muselle, Marta Bergman and Cesar Diaz, to name just three
Following its 22nd session, screen.brussels will be supporting 14 new projects (7 feature films, 6 documentaries and 1 animated series), promising to generate upwards of €8m in audiovisual spending in Brussels.
Most eye-catching among the full-length movies selected is the second feature film by Guérin Van de Vorst (The Faithful Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guérin Van de Vorst
film profile]), which was devised and co-directed by Sophie Muselle. La Vocation follows in the footsteps of 25-year-old Alexia, a self-willed and idealistic young woman who arrives as a trainee nurse on a closed ward in a psychiatric hospital. She finds herself moved by the anger felt by Beline, a 20-year-old patient who thinks she doesn’t belong there. Young Belgian actress Mara Taquin plays the lead in this movie, produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) in co-production with Serendipity (Belgium).
Another second feature film to win backing is L’enfant bélier by Marta Bergman (Alone at My Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Bergman
film profile]), which tackles the delicate but pressing matter of the fate reserved for migrants passing through Belgium. Sara and Adam have arrived in Belgium illegally with their 2-year-old daughter, hoping to travel on to England. But, crammed into the back of a vehicle, fear seems to dominate hope. Redouane has been a police officer for 20 years. Every night, backed by his team, he hunts people traffickers. That evening, when he tries to pull over the lorry suspected of carrying migrants, everything changes… The movie is produced by Frakas Production (Belgium) in co-production with Production des Années Lumière (Canada).
Cesar Diaz, who scooped the Golden Camera in 2019 thanks to Our Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesar Diaz
film profile], is also making his return by way of Mexico 1986, which takes us to Guatemala at the end of the summer. The film charts the path trodden by Maria (played by Bérénice Bejo), a revolutionary Guatemalan activist who’s been living as an exile for years in Mexico where she presses on with her political action. The filmmaker is once again supported by Need Productions (Belgium), in co-production with Tripode Productions (France) and Menuetto (Belgium).
Jonas D’Adesky is also returning 10 years on from his debut feature Twa Timoun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by way of Temps mort, which hinges upon the fate of a French-Rwandan female professional basketball player who goes back to Rwanda for the first time, having fled the country at the height of the genocide at the age of 9, in order to take part in an African championship. The film is produced by Néon Rouge (Belgium) in co-production with Tact Productions (France) and Karekezi Film Production (Rwanda).
Two first feature films have also been granted support: BXL by brothers Ish and Monir Ait Hamou, produced by Potemkino and Versus Production (Belgium), and Têtes brûlées by Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama, produced by 10.80 films and Quetzalcoatl (Belgium).
Likewise worth a mention is the return of Stefan Liberski with De l’art ou du Machond, on which filming is imminent, which we’ll return to in more detail very soon, and which boasts a highly delectable cast led by Benoît Poelvoorde. Artemis Productions (Belgium) are steering the movie in co-production with Le Bureau Films in France.
Last but not least, screen.brussels will be throwing its weight behind 6 documentaries (De Laatste joodse zomer by Thom Vander Beken, Enfant de divorce by Thomas Damas, Monstres de poussière by Nina Marissiaux, Orlando by Joachim Thôme, Patients: histoire de vie by Philippe Rigot, and Puisque que je suis née by Jawad Rhalib) and one animated series: season 2 of Jean-Michel Super Caribou, directed by Mathieu Auvray and Pauline Pinson.
(Translated from French)
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