Virton turns 30
The 30th Virton European Film Festival (November 5-14) is being held this week in the heart of Luxembourg province.
Founded in 1980, the festival’s original purpose was to celebrate Belgium’s first European elections. A rather small festival by national standards, it gives local audiences the chance to discover films that don’t make it to movie theatres in their region.
It is also an opportunity to see some avant-premieres in a festive and convivial setting. This year’s offerings include b>Claude Berri and François Dupeyron’s Treasure [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Radu Mihailheanu’s The Concert [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Mihaileanu
film profile]. In total, over 30 European films will be screened.
At the festival’s opening last Thursday, swathes of viewers were treated to an exclusive preview of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s second film, Oscar and the Lady in Pink, part of which was shot in the region.
Like Odette Toulemonde [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (which was, incidentally, a big hit in Belgium), Oscar and the Lady in Pink is adapted from one of Schmitt’s best-selling novels. It centres on Rose (Michèle Laroque), a lonely and rather lost woman, who rediscovers her lust for life when she meets Oscar, a young boy suffering from leukaemia.
Produced by Pan-Européenne and co-produced by Oscar Films, the film will be released on December 9 in France (Wild Bunch) and Belgium (Cineart).
There are many other avant-premieres on the line-up, including Xavier Gianolli’s In the Beginning [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile], and Karim Dridi’s The Last Flight, which will close the festival on Saturday, November 14.
This intriguing new project by the director of Khamsa [+see also:
trailer
film profile] features French cinema’s star couple, Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard, in an epic tale whose setting recalls The English Patient. Belga Film is expected to release the title in Belgium on January 27, 2010.
(Translated from French)
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