Rumours

The 17th edition of the Leuven International Short Film Festival (3-10 December) again highlights talented short cinema from Flanders. With a strong Flemish short film competition, the VAF Wildcards and a number of professional activities, Leuven is for a short time the epicenter of short cinema in Flanders.

2011 has been a strong year for Flemish shorts with the Cannes Jury Award for Wannes Destoop’s Swimsuit 46 and the Grand Prize in Valladolid for Kevin Meul’s The Extraordinary Life of Rocky. Now the IKL fest has selected 20 short films from promising directors who may give us a new wave of international Awards in the future.

Frits Standaert’s animated short Rumours has won the BeTV Award for best Belgian animated short at the Anima Festival in Brussels (4-13 March). Rumours, which was premiered at the festival, is also released on DVD through distributor Les Film du Nord.

In Rumours, the jungle animals are scared by an unusual noise. They start to panic, one after another. As the rumour spreads, their behaviour becomes increasingly irrational.

Thanks to this award, the film is now airing on French-language pay-TV network BeTV. Rumours will also be touring in France, where it is part of a school programme reaching 120,000 children. Les Film du Nord, distributor of the film, has also now released it on DVD, along with director Standaert’s animated short The Writer.