Moutout, Mungiu, Meadow and Murer among European releases

by Anne Feuillère

20/02/2008 - Hailing from Romania, the UK, France and Switzerland, the five European films hitting screens this week make up the majority of releases. A European social drama, comedy and dramatic comedy are being launched across 18 screens, while the four other new releases – all of them US titles – share 75 screens between them. This is due to the week’s blockbuster Jumper, which alone monopolises 61 screens.

Following Work Hard, Play Hard [trailer] in which Belgian actor Jérémie Rénier appeared in 2004, Jean Marc Moutout’s second feature, The Feelings Factory [trailer], has just screened in the Panorama section at the recent Berlin Film Festival.

The director’s second film is once again a minority Belgian co-production, by Denis Delcampe of Need Productions, with backing from the RTBF and the Film and Audiovisual Centre of the French Community of Belgium. Released by BFD on five screens in French-speaking Belgium and Brussels, The Feelings Factory presents an alarming vision of modern society by recounting, in a light-hearted way, the torments of a 30-year-old woman grappling with her life choices and loneliness.

This week’s other French release – which is being launched on six screens in French-speaking Belgium and Brussels – is also a second feature for its director: Notre univers impitoyable [trailer] (“Our Pitiless World”), a comedy by Léa Frazer (distributed by Victory Films).

Released on five screens across Belgium, Shane Meadow’s This is England [trailer] – which attracted attention at festivals worldwide and scooped numerous prizes, including the BAFTA Award for Best British Film – is being distributed by A-Film Distribution.

Finally, this week’s two remaining European releases may attract a rather limited audience and are each showing on only one screen, but they are nonetheless impressive. Imagine Film Distributions are bravely launching Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s debut feature West and family comedy Vitus [trailer, film focus] by Swiss director Fredi M. Murer, which has enjoyed immense domestic success amongst audiences and critics (see Focus).

(Translated from French)