Lena

Dutch-Flemish coproduction Lena has secured two awards at the International Film Festival of Porto. Director Christophe Van Rompaey received a Special Mention of the Jury for his film, and main actress Emma Levie saw her efforts rewarded with the prize for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

“In a less-than-favourable climate for this sort of films, recognitions like these are a welcome incentive for me to continue,” said Van Rompaey, who won over public and critics alike with his 2008 box office hit, Moscow, Belgium.

The 32^nd Oporto International Film Festival (24 Febr – 3 March) has invited works from no less than four Flemish filmmakers for its line-up. Frank van Passel’s Madonna’s Pig, Jakob Verbruggen’s Code 37, Nuru, a short by Michael Palmaers, and Christophe Van Rompaey's Lena have been selected for Fest.

Code 37 became an instant box office hit in its home territory when released last fall. The film was running alongside Madonna’s Pig and Geoffrey Enthoven’s Come As You Are in theatres and together the films even managed to register over 80,000 admissions during one weekend. The film is to receive its market première at this year's European Film Market in Berlin. Code 37 director Jakob Verbruggen is now also set to direct the BBC mini-series The Fall, written by the BAFTA nominated Alan Cubitt.

Matthias Schoenaerts has been named as Best Actor for his part in Michaël R Roskam’s feature debut Bullhead at this year's 3rd European Film Festival of Les Arcs (France, 10-17 December). The Best Actress Award went to Emma Levie for her role in Christophe Van Rompaey’s Lena.

For Levie, for whom Lena is her big screen debut, the Les Arcs gong is her first award. Earlier this year, Christophe Van Rompaey’s second feature premiered internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lena is a lonely adolescent girl. Much to her surprise she gets into a relationship with the popular but unreliable Daan. Lena moves in with Daan and his strange father Tom and is willing to do a lot for his love.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (5-16 January), traditionally the place-to-be for any feature with Oscar ambitions, has for the second year in a row selected five Flemish directors for its line-up. This year’s selected films are Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas, Geoffrey Enthoven’s Come As You Are, Nicolas Provost’s The Invader, Michaël R Roskam’s Bullhead and Christophe Van Rompaey’s Lena. John Shanks’s Last Winter, a co-production with Flanders, will also screen at Palm Springs.

Last year saw the selection of a record-breaking five Flemish features for Palm Springs. The selected films were part of a mini-focus – ‘the Flanders Five’ – that put the spotlight on the wave of Flemish talent and the diversity of films from Flanders. For its 2012 edition, Palm Springs has once again selected five Flemish directors.

Michaël R. Roskam’s Bullhead and Christophe Van Rompaey’s Lena are selected for Official Competition at the 3rd edition of the European Film Festival of Les Arcs, France (10-17 December). Also playing at the Fest's European Panorama is Hotel Swooni by Kaat Beels while the animated The Monster of Nix by Rosto is shown in the school programme.

A total of 12 features compete for the Crystal Arrow for Best Film awarded by the International Jury headed by Italian helmer Michele Placido. The prestigious Award comes with financial distribution support for the winning film in Europe and the rest of the world. Artistic director of les Arcs is Frédéric Boyer, who recently also got appointed as artistic director of the Tribeca Film Fest.