05/02/2010

The 26th Mons International Love Film Festival (FIFA) will be held in Belgium from February 19-26. Having the freedom of a universal theme that opens up a range of possibilities, the festival aims to offer Mons and Belgian audiences unusual films from across the world.

Outstanding avant-premieres will bring glitz and glamour – Benoît Pétré’s Thelma, Louise and Chantal [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Amazon-like trio Jane Birkin, Caroline Cellier and Catherine Jacob, will open proceedings and Rob Marshall’s Nine will close the event – while competitions and other panoramas will focus on independent international films.

The festival will host its usual sections, including the annual Panorama of Italian Cinema, which brings together Belgium’s large Italian community, and will unveil the latest films by Giuseppe Tornatore (Baarìa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Michele Placido (The Big Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]); and Lights from Elsewhere, which gives pride of place to films from southern countries.

This year, FIFA will also put the spotlight on Romania, by presenting six features. These include two debut films to be screened in international competition: Andrei Gruzsnicki’s The Other Irene and Websitestory by popular Romanian actor Dan Chisu.

The international competition will put the emphasis on European cinema, with seven of the 11 films hailing from Europe. These include the two above-mentioned Romanian titles; as well as Robert Glinski’s Piggies [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Poland/Germany); Giulio Manfredonia’s We Can Do That [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Italy); Dome Karukoski’s Forbidden Fruit [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Finland); Laurent Perreau’s Restless (France); and Christoph Schaub’s Julia’s Disappearance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christoph Schaub
film profile], which was Swiss box office champion in 2009 and is en route to success at the Swiss Film Awards on March 6.

Finally, the Mons fest is also organising a European Competition, which will give viewers a chance to discover Kamen Kalev’s Eastern Plays [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kamen Kalev
film profile] (finalist of the Lux Prize 2009 - Bulgaria), Filippos Tsitos’ Plato’s Academy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Constantin Moriatis
interview: Filippos Tsitos
interview: Filippos Tsitos
film profile] (Greece) and Eugène Green’s The Portuguese Nun [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Portugal/ France).

(Translated from French)