A Cat in Paris

Four Flemish productions entered the official competition at the Newport Beach Film Festival in Orange County, California (26 April-3 May). The Spring of Cesar, Land of the Heroes and Swimsuit 46 screen in the shorts section, while A Cat in Paris will be showcased as part of a limited collection of animation features.

Before its Newport Beach outing, The Spring of Cesar screened at the International Short Film Festival Leuven, where it received an honourable mention. Sahim Omar Kalifa’s Land of the Heroes, Wannes Destoop’s Swimsuit 46 and the 2012 Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris are no strangers to the international festival circuit either.

Michaël R Roskam’s feature film debut Bullhead, representing Belgium at the Oscars, is among the five films nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Academy Award. Bullhead is Belgium’s sixth Oscar nomination in this category. Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol’s A Cat in Paris also grabbed a nomination in the Best Animated Feature category. The winners of the 84th Academy Awards will be announced in Hollywood on 26 February.

Bullhead is an emotionally driven tale of revenge, redemption and fate set against the backdrop of the Belgian bovine growth hormone mafia. The story starts with young cattle farmer Jacky (Matthias Schoenaerts) who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past set in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.

Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli's animated feature A Cat In Paris has been nominated for the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature, it was announced by the European Film Academy at this year's Seville European Film Festival. Almost simultaneously, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed that the film has also been shortlisted for the Animated Feature Film category at the 84th Academy Awards.

In A Cat in Paris, a cat leads a secret double life: It spends its days with Zoe, the daughter of a police chief, but by night accompanies a cat burglar on the rooftops of the city. One day, while Zoe's mother is investigating a series of night burglaries, a criminal kidnaps the little girl.

The European Film Academy (EFA) has announced the three nominated titles in the Animated Feature category for the European Film Awards (3 December) in Berlin. A Cat in Paris, the animated feature directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol, is one of them.

Although A Cat in Paris seems French, it has a strong Flemish feel to it: two young Flemish animators, Pieter Samyn and Pascal Vermeersch, played a key role in animating the movie. Right from the beginning A Cat in Paris set out on an impressive festival tour, including the Berlinale’s Generation K+ programme where it competed for the Crystal Bear for Best Feature. 

Dino is a cat with a secret double life: during the day he is Zoé’s ordinary pet, but at night he turns into a thief’s accomplice. While Zoé’s mom, a police inspector, investigates the burglaries Zoé is kidnapped by a gangster. A Cat in Paris showcases the focus on felines in this year’s nominations. Apart from A Cat in Paris two other films are nominated: The Rabbi’s Cat by Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar and Chico & Ritadirected by the threesome Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba.

Following its festival selection for Venice and Toronto, Nicolas Provost's feature debut The Invader has also been invited to the San Sebastián International Film Festival (16-24 September) where it will be shown, together with such films as Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life, as part of the Zabaltegi Pearls programme. The Invader is to receive its world premiere in Venice, where it is shown in the Horizons programme. San Sebastián is its next European stop.

Provost won’t be alone in Spain: The San Sebastián film festival embraces two other Flemish co-productions: A Cat in Paris, which will be shown in the Velodrome, the largest cinema in the festival, as part of a screening for children, and The Last Passage, a documentary film by Iurre Telleria and Enara Goikoetxea, which premieres at the fest. The Last Passage will compete in the Zinemira section for the Serbitzu Zinemira Award for films that contribute to the development of the Basque film culture and industry.