News

This week, the Open Doek Festival (20 – 29 April) kicked off in Turnhout, while Leuven is getting ready for the 8th edition of the International Documentary Festival DOCVILLE (27 April – 5 May). Both programs house a large selection of Flemish titles, ranging from Daniel Lambo’s Dry Branches of Iran to Berlinale attendees Anton Corbijn Inside Out andAsparragos.

For the eighth consecutive year, DOCVILLE highlights the best documentaries and awards prizes in various sections. This year, Flanders is well represented in its national competition with more than ten short and feature-length film titles.

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Academy Award-nominated director Mike Figgis's The Co(te)lette Film is now available on the iTunes store in Belgium and other territories. According to producer Savage Film (Bullhead), it's the first Flemish production, supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, which can be downloaded from the platform in Belgium.

The Co(te)lette Film is the cinematic adaptation of the award-winning dance production Co(te)lette by Flemish choreographer Ann Van den Broek. Both the original stage production and the film production were performed by Van den Broek's company, Ward/Ward.

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Wim Vandekeybus’ and Nicolas Provost’s debut features Monkey Sandwich and The Invader have been selected to enter in competition at the CPH PIX festival in Copenhagen. Both films will compete in the fest’s New Talent Grand Prix. Moreover, Michael R. Roskam’s Academy Award nominated hit flick Bullhead will be given a special screening along with a number of other internationally acclaimed films such as Mr. Lazhar.

The PIX festival puts a heavy emphasis on new talent, introducing some of the best debut films from all over the globe. The fest’s annual competition, New Talent Grand Prix, is dedicated to the most promising first time-directors. Young talent Nicolas Provost’s The Invader and feature film first-timer Wim Vandekeybus’ Monkey Sandwichwill both be competing for the Award.

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Isabelle Tollenaere's latest documentary Viva Paradis and Printed Matter, directed by Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat, are screening at this year's Courtisane Festival (21-25 March). Showcasing film, video and media art, the Ghent-based festival Courtisane presents a kaleidoscopic mosaic of styles, media, gestures and emotions. With Still Life (2008) and Trickland (2010) Tollenaere already landed two awards at previous editions of the festival.

Tollenaere's latest project Viva Paradis captures a moment in a land in the midst of transformation. Focusing on the moment after the journalists have left and the overflow of media images has stopped, the documentary portrays the emptiness after last year's Tunisian revolution.

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The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) has announced that nine FilmLab film projects have been awarded grants, including new film ventures by renowned plastic artists Jan De Cock and Hans Op de Beeck. The FilmLab funding line of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund is open to daring and out-of-the-box projects.

De Cock’s first film venture, Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, looks to be a particularly promising project. His debut feature is produced by Skyline Film & TV Entertainment and has been granted VAF development support. Both the screenplay and the directing were handled by De Cock himself.

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ArtistJan De Cock is currently writing the screenplay for his to-appear film Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear. The project is a collaboration with renowned theater director Peter De Graef and will receive financial support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF).

De Cock pledges his film to be consumer-minded as well as being an artistic manifest on the medium film itself. “I am very glad that the VAF has decided to grant me their support. It shows that they believe that my project can be a masterpiece”, says Jan De Cock, candid and self-assured as ever, “It’s very remarkable that they support my project, for I’ve always been very unruly and recalcitrant”.

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Following successful appearances at European festivals such as the Ghent International Film Festival and the Cinedans Moving Media Festival in The Netherlands, Mike Figgis’ 2010 interpretation of the CO(te)LETTE dance production is now due to appear at a number of US festivals later this year.

The film, a cinematographic capture of choreography devised by Ann Van Den Broeck, has its first screening on Saturday 17 March at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, followed by an outing at the 36th Atlanta Film Festival (23 March-1 April). The film has received wide acclaim, convincing audiences and critics alike of its aesthetic qualities: ‘a very beautiful, powerful, sensual and original piece’, says one Canadian reviewer, ‘a piece that leaves you with images and sounds that reverberate long after the performance’.

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Jonas Baeckeland, Peter Connely, Kevin Meul, Sieber Marly and Olivier Van Den Broeck have been invited to the tenth edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus (11-16 February). Each of the five participants is a rising talent in their field.

Peter Connely attended Berlin last year with his Berlinale Shorts entry Back by Six, which was selected for the Berlinale Shorts Competition. Other directors invited are Jonas Baeckeland (Blauwhuys, Twelve Going on to Sixty) and Kevin Meul, who recently grabbed the Meeting Point Award for Best Short Film at the Valladolid International Film Festival with The Extraordinary Life of Rocky.

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Flemish producer Jules Debrock will be joining 77 young film producers for the 12th edition of Rotterdam Lab, a CineMart event for emerging producers. The event takes place during the International Film Festival Rotterdam from 28 January till 1 February.

Jules Debrock’s production company Pain Perdu proved their talent with their work on Moon Blaisse’s graduation film Sometime Later which won at Geneva’s Cinéma Tous Ecrans Festival last year. The film also earned the director a VAF Wildcard, an award aimed at giving recently graduated filmmaking talent a chance to embark on a first professional project.

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A total of 16 Lab projects received funding from the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) this autumn. The list includes a new short by Award-winning director and video artist Nicolas Provost as well as projects by Sarah Vanagt, Manon de Boer and Alexis Destoop.

Of the 10 Lab projects that were confirmed production support, one of the titles that stands out is Nicolas Provost’s new project Tokyo Film. The filmmaker recently presented his feature debut The Invader and meanwhile continues to produce visually stunning short work. The list continues with other talented artists like Sarah Vanagt (The Corridor), Manon de Boer (Think about Wood, Think about Metal) and Laurent Van Lancker (Disorient) who are working on The Wave, Where's the Voice? Three Approximations and Diwans respectively.

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