Flanders-image

Merditude to open Ghent

Young helmer Felix van Groeningen's new feature film The Misfortunates will open the International Film festival Ghent (6 - 17 October 2009)

Monte Carlo awards Damned and Flesh

Jawad Rhalib’s documentary The Damned of the Sea and Tom Van Dyck, Michiel Devlieger and Michel Vanhove’s top-rating miniseries Flesh and Bones were among the award winners at this year’s 49th edition of the Monte Carlo International Television Festival (7-11 June).

Annecy auds award Brendan

Audiences at this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival picked Tomm Moore's The Secret of Kells (aka Brendan and the Secret of Kells) as their favourite film at the fest. In the meantime, Celluloid Dreams sold the feature to the US and Canada, Russia, Korea and the Middle East. Local partner in this Irish-French-Belgian venture is Viviane Vanfleteren of Vivi Films.

Sister smiles over Taormina

Stijn Coninx’s biopic Sister Smile (Soeur Sourire), starring Cécile De France, is to receive a gala presentation at this year’s 55th edition of the Taormina International Film festival (13-20 June). On 18 June, the film will be shown at an open air screening at Taormina’s Greek-Roman amphitheatre. Both the director and lead actress will be present at the screening.

Munich Fest traces Lost Persons

Cannes International Critics' Week entry Lost Persons Area, directed by Caroline Strubbe, has been selected for this year’s Munich International Film Festival (26 June-4 July). The film, which was awarded the SACD Screenplay Award in Cannes, is screening in the international programme, Exotic Stopovers.

Loft, Lost Persons and Panic at ECS

This year’s inaugural edition of the European Cinema Summit (ECS) in Brussels will showcase three indigenously produced features: Erik Van Looy’s whodunit Loft, Caroline Strubbe’s Cannes-selected Lost Persons Area and the stop-motion animated A Town Called Panic by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier. ECS, which brings together exhibitors and distributors from all over Europe, takes place at Brussels’ Kinepolis megaplex from 15-18 June.

Annecy selects works from Flanders

Anton Setola’s Jazzed, Paul Delissen’s Dirt in the Ground and Soft Plants by Emma De Swaef are among the shorts selected for various competitive programmes at this year’s Animation Film Festival in Annecy. Also competing in the commercials section is Firefly, a commercial made for the De Lijn public transport company. Two minority co-productions will also be shown at Annecy: Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells and A Town Called Panic by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier.

Lost Persons Area grabs Cannes screenplay award

It was another triumph in Cannes for a Flemish feature film debut this year as Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe picked up the €2,500 SACD Prize for Best Screenplay at the awards ceremony of the festival's International Critics' Week section.

Cannes trades praise Flanders pics

Both Caroline Strubbe's International Critics Week selected Lost Persons Area and Felix van Groeningen's Directors Fortnight entry The Misfortunates (La merditude des choses/De helaasheid der dingen) have received good reviews in the Cannes trade dailies.

Line-up Flanders Image @ Cannes 09

Click on the image to view the flyer with the line-up of Flanders Image at the Cannes International Film Festival (13-24 May 2009).

Agents aim for Flanders features

All the Flemish films premiering at this year's Cannes Film Festival have been grabbed by international sales agents. Felix van Groeningen's Directors' Fortnight entry, La merditude des choses (AKA The Misfortunates) has been picked up by Paris-based MK2, which will also release the film in France. Brosens & Woodworth's second feature, the International Critics' Week-selected Altiplano, is represented by Helen Loveridge's Meridiana Films, while U Media grabbed Caroline Strubbe's feature debut Lost Persons Area, which will also be shown in Critics' Week, where it will be competing for the prestigious Caméra d'Or. A Town Called Panic, which is a Flanders co-production, is sold by Philippe Bober's Coproduction Office.

Flanders invasion in Cannes

A record three Flemish films are in official selection for the Cannes Film Festival this year. Felix van Groeningen’s The Misfortunates (formerly known as The Alasness of Things) is presented in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight), while Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe, and Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth’s Altiplano are both selected for the Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week). This is the first time that three films from Flanders have received an official invitation for the festival, which this year runs from 13-24 May. All three films were supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF). The films join A Town Called Panic, a minor co-production with Flanders, which will be shown as a midnight screening at the festival.