Swimsuit 46

Three Flemish short films grabbed a total of six awards in one weekend at different international film festivals. Jan and Raf Roosens’s Skunk, Wannes Destoop’s Swimsuit 46 and Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef’s Oh Willy… were the lucky winners.

At the 50th edition of the International Film Festival at Gijon in Spain Skunk won the Awards for Best Director (Jan & Raf Roosens) and Best Screenplay (Bert Van Dael and Sanne Nuyens). Earlier this year the short won top honours at the Guanajuato International Film Festival in Mexico which automatically put the film on the longlist for the Oscars 2013. Also in Gijon the award for Best Actress went to Janis Vercaempt for her part in Swimsuit 46 directed by Wannes Destoop. Last year Destoop’s short film won the Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

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.

The jury of the Aubagne International Film Festival (19-24 March) in France has awarded the Prix Fiction in its short film programme to the soundtrack of Swimsuit 46. The Aubagne International Film Festival, a festival unique in its focus on film scores and the connection between image and music, was organized for the 30th time this year.

The score for Swimsuit 46 was written by Amatorski, a Flemish alternative music band. On their website, the group's sound is described as “echoed by Portishead, Massive Attack, Sparkehorse, Ornette Coleman or the gloomy children's song from Eraserhead”.

Founded in 1990, the Travelling Film Festival shows honors to the cinematographic culture of a different city each year. Through images, the public discovers the cultural wealth and history of one metropolis. After  New York, Dublin, Tokyo, Helsinki an many others, the festival’s focal point this year was the city of Brussels.

In the Short Film category, an award was presented to Swimsuit 46. Following the 2011 Cannes International Jury Award, director Wannes Destoop can put yet another trophy on his mantelpiece.  This time, Swimsuit 46 was decorated the ‘Prix Foyers des jeunes Travailleurs’. Other awards in this category went to Kin by L’Atelier, from French-speaking Belgium.

After starting its international career by winning the Cannes International Jury Award in 2011, Wannes Destoop’s short Swimsuit 46 has now been selected for its 30th film festival.

After making waves in Cannes, the film has made appearances at numerous renowned festivals including Athens International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.