14/02/2007

The 23rd Mons International Love Film Festival (February 9-16) is in full swing, and with 77 features and 42 shorts from 28 countries, Europe is very much present.

French titles in international competition include Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news), currently screening at Berlin; Maïwenn’s Pardonnez-moi [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; Italian helmer Michele Soavi’s Arrivederci amore ciao [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; Andréa Staka’s German/Swiss co-production Fraulein [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; Sven Taddicken’s Emma’s Bliss [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; Spain’s DarkBlueAlmostBlack [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see interview); and Julie Delpy’s debut feature, 2 Days in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Mazodier
interview: Julie Delpy
film profile] (see news), which is also currently screening at Berlin (Panorama section).

The festival is also hosting several other Italian films – including recent productions still looking for distributors in Belgium, such as Antonio Capuano’s Mario’s War and Cristina Comencini’s Don’t Tell [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – as well as tributes to caustic Italian director Tinto Brass and France’s George Lautner, a focus on Turkey and two sections "Lumières d'ailleurs" and "Regards Croisés", a showcase for films without distributors (such as La vraie vie est ailleurs by Swiss filmmaker Frédéric Choffat an d Il a suffit que Maman s'en aille… [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by France’s René Ferret).

Preview screenings include two Belgian films: Alain Berliner’s Gone for a Dance and Micha Wald’s Voleurs de chevaux [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Screened in the presence of the full cast and crew (who will also see the film for the first time), the former, a brilliant and lyrical debut feature (see news), is set in a fictional early 19th century Ukraine and is an intimate account of two sets of brothers, linked to each other in strong and complex ways.

Divided in three parts, the first two of which are superbly ethereal, Voleurs de Chevaux, accompanied by the tense, sombre and silent performances of its two lead actors, Adrien Jolivet and Grégoire Colin, takes viewers on a journey that ends in a final duel that leaves one speechless.

As part of the screening of this debut feature, produced by Versus and backed by the Communauté française de Belgique, the Coqs –which are presented to impressive personalities having made an important contribution to cinema – were awarded yesterday by a jury presided over by festival director André Ceuterick.

The Critics’ Prize was presented to journalist Nicolas Crousse of Belgian daily Le Soir, while the Distribution award went to Nathalie Meyer of La Big Family, a highly dynamic company that promotes and distributes Belgian shorts internationally. The Exhibition prize went to Géraldine Cambron for her quality programming work at the rural cinema L’Ecran.

(Translated from French)