23/10/2009

In its 142nd issue, webzine Cinergie looks again at the remarkable news of Fadila Laanan’s second term of office as Culture and Audiovisual Minister for the Belgian French Community. Cinergie met with her in her offices.

Although her words are full of determination, they nonetheless herald the severe budget cuts to come: her new term will be one of “sacrifices and reduced spending”. The aim will therefore be to complete and consolidate projects already underway.

Another wise woman, Jacqueline Pierreux, looks back at the creative effervescence of the 1970s. “I wanted to create Belgian cinema. I was full of self-pride, I admit…” Pride or not, Pierreux largely contributed to the emergence of Belgian cinema as we know it today: in the 1970s, she produced key works through her company Pierre Films, and in the 1980s co-produced with RTBF films by auteurs who have brought Cannes glory to Belgian cinema, including Gerard Corbiau, Jaco Van Dormael and the Dardenne brothers.

In the news spotlight (her film hits Belgian screens next Wednesday), Dorothée Van Den Berghe talks about her second feature, My Queen Karo [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is set in the 1970s when it was forbidden to forbid, and when the notion of community destroyed any attempt at privacy.

Like in Girl [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the director focuses on “a couple who stay together too long”, and the experiences of a ten-year-old girl, who has to grow up despite her parents.

Finally, Cinergie made the most of the latest International Francophone Film Festival (FIFF) to get a good dose of Belgian films, including Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet’s Amer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Philippe Van Leeuw’s The Day God Walked Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and Nabil Ben Yadir’s Les Barons [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview with director and actress of…
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile] (to be released on November 4).

The latter was an instant favourite with the editorial team, who enthuse over “this explosive debut feature […] which happily debunks all we thought we knew about the North African community, integration, working-class areas, Brussels and perhaps even Belgian cinema itself…” That’s a tall order!

(Translated from French)