25/04/2012 - Belgium, and the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, will once again be well-represented in Cannes, with five features and five co-productions

Last week already, Cannes announced that Joachim Lafosse (already at the festival’s Directors’ Fortnight in 2008 with Private Lessons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques-Henri Bronckart
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile]) would this year run in the Un Certain Regard competition with Loving Without Reason [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] (photo - Versus Production). With a five-star cast (Emilie Dequenne, with Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup) and a universal bitter theme, the film could be a sensation.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Directors’ Fortnight has just announced the selection of Ernest & Célestine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamin Renner, Vincent Pa…
film profile] (La Parti), a children’s animation film whose screenplay was written by Daniel Pennac and that was directed by Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier (whose Panique au village [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Aubier and Vincen…
interview: Stéphane Aubier & Vincent P…
film profile] was shown three years ago in a special screening at the festival), and Benjamin Renner. It’s also been a great surprise for Beyond the Walls [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile], a first feature by David Lambert and Frakas Productions (Jean-Yves Roubin) to have been selected for the Critics’ Week.

With these three selections, Versus, Frakas, and La Parti have been rewarded for their editorial policies in following filmmakers long term. Finally, the film directors association ACID will screen La Tête la première, Amélie van Elmbt’s first feature produced by Media International, and the very moving Summer of Giacomo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alessandro Comodin (Les Films Nus), already awarded in Locarno and Belfort, in special screenings.

The Belgian co-productions going to the festival this year are very diverse. God’s Horses by Nabil Ayouch, co-produced by YC Alligator, and Le Grand Soir [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, co-produced by Panache Productions, will run in the Un Certain Regard section of the competition. As for the Dardenne brothers (Les Films du Fleuve), they have done very well this year with no less than three co-productions in the official competition:Rust & Bone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard
film profile] by Jacques Audiard, The Angel’s Share [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
film profile] by Ken Loach and Beyond the Hills [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cosmina Stratan
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile] by Cristian Mungiu.

From Flanders, some were expecting Felix Van Groeningen’s new film to make the cut, but it did not this time. It is however worth noting that Loving Without Reason and Rust & Bone were respectively co-produced by Prime Time and Lunanime, and that two Flemish short films will run in the official and Cinéfondation competitions.

(Translated from French)