Flanders-image

70% more spectators for Flemish films in 2008

Almost 2 million people attended a Flemish film in 2008, which is an absolute record and a 70% rise compared to 2007. This increase is remarkable as the general number of cinema visitors showed a decrease by 6-8% last year. For the first time, the Flemish film national market share will reach 10%.

Loft beats Daens

According to figures released by distributor Independent, Loft, by Erik Van Looy, attracted 850,000 visitors over the Christmas period, confirming it as the most successful Flemish film of the past 15 years and putting it ahead of Stijn Coninx's Daens as the third most successful Flemish film of all time.

Launch of Location Flanders

Together with Flanders Image, four Flemish film cities – Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent and Ostend – have launched Location Flanders, the central film commission for Flanders, Belgium.

Cut Loose wins in Cairo

Cut Loose by Jan Verheyen won the Silver Pyramid for Best Director and the Saad El-Din Wahba Prize for Best Script (by Bram Renders) at the 32nd Cairo International Film Festival. Cut Loose was presented in the International Competition at the festival, where director Verheyen was in attendance to receive the prizes.

Devos scores for Unspoken in Torino

Emmanuelle Devos has won the award for Best Actress at the 26th Torino International Film Festival for her performance in Fien Troch's Unspoken. Both Troch and Flemish producer Antonino Lombardo were present to receive the award on Devos' behalf.

Docs from Flanders @ IDFA08

Five productions and three co-productions from Flanders have been selected for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2008 (20-30 November 2008). This is the largest Flemish selection ever at IDFA.

Loft bigger than Bond in Flanders

Erik Van Looy’s Loft, which passed the 500,000-admission mark in its third week on release in Flanders, this past weekend topped new Bond vehicle Quantum of Solace, which opened last Wednesday, by nearly 20,000 admissions. Loft also broke the speed record to reach half a million admissions. In less than three weeks, Loft has also entered the top 10 of all-time Flemish box office hits.

Left Bank grabs two in New York

Pieter Van Hees’ debut feature Left Bank has won two awards at this year’s Gotham Screen New York Film Festival, where the film was also shown as opening attraction: Eline Kuppens won Best Actress, while the Best Photography award went to Nicolas Karakatsanis.

EFA nomination for Moscow, Belgium score

Tuur Florizoone’s original score for Christophe Van Rompaey’s Moscow, Belgium has been nominated for this year’s European Film Awards. The EFA winners will be announced in Copenhagen, at a gala event attended by Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary. In the meantime, Moscow, Belgium keeps on touring the international film festival circuit. After theatrical releases in The Netherlands and Germany, the film is now set to open in countries like France (November), the US (December) and the UK (February).

Loft sets new admissions record in Flanders

Erik Van Looy's whodunit Loft has set a new box office record in Flanders: this is the first time in Flemish cinema history that any feature, indigenous or foreign, has registered 300,000 admissions in just 10 days. Van Looy's previous feature, The Alzheimer Case (Memory of a Killer), was about halfway to the 300,000 mark at this stage. This week, Loft is to make its market debut at the American Film Market (AFM) where The Works International is representing the film.

Loft beats all-comers at Belgian box office

Erik Van Looy’s new feature film Loft chalked up more than 125,000 admissions by the end of its opening weekend, more than doubling the opening weekend take of the director’s previous hit The Alzheimer Case (The Memory of a Killer), which attracted close to 60,000 cinemagoers during its first weekend in 2003. According to the film’s distributor, Independent, it is the strongest opening for a film in Belgium this year.

Left Bank to open Gotham Screen fest

Pieter Van Hees’ feature film debut Left Bank is to open this year’s second edition of Gotham Screen (30 October-2 November), the New York film festival showcasing cutting-edge features, documentaries and shorts from independent, first-time directors, as well as international releases making their East Coast or US debut.