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Subscribe to the RSS feedBelgian Rhapsody nabs foreign sales
Belgian Rhapsody, the new feature film by Vincent Bal, has been sold to France, Japan, South Korea and Turkey. The film screened at the European Film Market (EFM) during the Berlin Film Festival. Negotiations with distributors for other countries are ongoing.
Belgian Rhapsody had its market premiere in Berlin. Distributor Paradis Films (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Soeur Sourire) acquired the rights to release the film in France, while Fine Films (Under the Skin, Dallas Buyers Club) acquired Japanese distribution rights. Seed will distribute the film in South Korea and Mor Film will handle its Turkish release.
Filip Peeters assembles Flemish all-star cast for directorial debut
Flemish actor Filip Peeters starts shooting his directorial debut Wat mannen willen (What Men Want) on February 16, bringing together a team of established Flemish actors including Tom Audenaert (Come As You Are), Gene Bervoets (Borgman) and Evelien Bosmans (Marina).
Wat mannen willen is about six men who have one thing in common: they’re all looking for the perfect love - a quest that is far from easy these days, since men (and women too) don’t seem to know what women want any more.
Jonas Govaerts’s Cub sold to the US
Cub, Jonas Govaerts’s feature film debut, has been sold to the US. Sales agent Kinology has announced that Artsploitation Film will be releasing the film next summer, with video-on-demand and DVD release scheduled for the autumn.
Cub is about 12-year-old Sam, who heads off to camp with his fellow cub scouts. He soon stumbles upon a masked, feral-looking child, who turns out to be the assistant to the Poacher, an evil psychopath who is intent on slaughtering the scouts one by one.
Cinequest presents five from Flanders
Geoffrey Enthoven’s Halfway, Plan Bart, directed by Roel Mondelaers and Marry Me, the new feature by Kadir Balci, are all to have their North American premieres at the Cinequest Film Festival in Silicon Valley (24 February – 9 March). Piss & Vinegar and Wien for Life, two Flemish shorts, also receive their international premieres at the festival. In the Heart, a co-production with Flanders starring Koen De Graeve, completes the Flemish line-up.
Marry Me, Kadir Balci’s second feature after Turquaze, tells the story of Sibel and Jurgen who get engaged following a brief affair. The couple looks forward to what ought to be the most beautiful day of their lives, but reckon without the pressure, expectations and doubts of their families.
Tonic Immobility takes Eurimages Award at CineMart
Nathalie Teirlinck’s Tonic Immobility has won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at CineMart, the international co-production and financing platform at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR). With the award comes a cash prize of €20,000. Savage Film (Bullhead, Galloping Mind) is producing the film.
Tonic Immobility, Nathalie Teirlinck’s first feature, is a psychological drama about Alice, an escort who evades meaningful social contact. When she is forced to take care of her son after the death of her ex-husband, she finds herself confronted with the emotional emptiness in her life.
Sony Pictures Classics acquires Diary of a Teenage Girl at Sundance
The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the first feature film developed and produced by Caviar’s Los Angeles office, is off to a great start. Marielle Heller’s directorial debut, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival (22 January – 1 February), received strong reviews and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for a US release.
The Hollywood Reporter described The Diary of a Teenage Girl as ‘the film Sundance prays for every year: one that indelibly puts on the map a talented director the festival can then forever claim as one of its own.’ Sony Pictures Classics signed a distribution deal for North and South America, Asia and Australia. Lumière Group will release the film in the Benelux this summer.
Herbots’s The Treatment sold to the US
Hans Herbots’s psychological thriller The Treatment has been sold to the US, where Artsploitation Films will be releasing the film. Earlier this month, Herbots’s film was well received at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, where it had its North American premiere.
The Treatment screened as part of the World Cinema Now section in Palm Springs, creating such a buzz that an extra venue had to be added for the second scheduled screening of the film. Following its successful festival launch, Artsploitation Films acquired North American rights. A distributor specialising in genre films, Artsploitation plans on releasing the film this year.
Flanders well represented in Rotterdam
Several films and co-productions from Flanders were programmed at this year’s Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR, 21 January – 1 February). Isabelle Tollenaere’s Battles, Sarah Vanagt’s In Waking Hours and Thierry Knauff’s Vita Brevis, a co-production with Flanders, premiered at the festival. Black, Sequenza and Kosmos were also part of the programme, while student shorts The Visitor, The Second of August and Hotel Red Shoes were shown in the Signals: 24/7 section. Finally, the Screen Flanders-supported feature Between 10 and 12 was part of the line-up in the Limelight section.
Isabelle Tollenaere presented her latest documentary Battles, Sarah Vanagt presented In Waking Hours, and also Thierry Knauff's Vita Brevis premiered at the festival. Black Sequenza, Kosmos were also part of the programme, while student shorts The Visitor, The Second of August and Hotel Red Shoes were shown in the Signals: 24/7 section. Finally, Between 10 and 12 was part of the line-up in the Limelight section.
Waste Land takes the Cineuropa Prize in Les Arcs
Pieter Van Hees’s psychological thriller Waste Land has won the Cineuropa Prize at the European Film Festival in Les Arcs (13-20 December). It’s the first international award for Waste Land, the closing chapter in the director’s trilogy.
Since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last autumn, Waste Land has been seen at a number of festivals including Busan, Austin, Stockholm and now Les Arcs; but this is the film’s first prize. The Cineuropa Prize is an initiative of Cineuropa, the online portal showcasing European cinema worldwide.
Altitude acquires Cub for UK release
Altitude Film Distribution has picked up Jonas Govaerts’s feature-film debut Cub for release in the UK. The film, set in a summer camp for scouts, is scheduled for a theatrical run in summer 2015. Meanwhile, in its home country, Cub has taken over 75,000 admissions to date, with a box office total of €500,000.
In the film, Sam, an imaginative 12-year-old boy, goes off to camp with his Cub Scout pack. He quickly discovers that something is not quite right in the woods when he stumbles across a masked feral child. As Sam gets more and more isolated from the other scouts, he becomes convinced a terrible fate awaits them: the feral child is the assistant of the Poacher, an evil psychopath who has laced the forest with ingenious traps and is intent on slaughtering any trespasser… one at a time.
