04/03/2025 - As its 40th edition gets ready to open its doors on 7 March, the festival’s director general looks back on the event’s history and its upcoming programme

(© Florian Nisolle)

Created in 1985, the Love International Film Festival Mons negotiated a number of twists and turns before getting to enjoy its current reputation, which sees it advancing along an upward trajectory and makes it an unmissable event in Belgium and Wallonia for the discovery of emerging and established film talent from all around the world. Spearheading the festival since 2019, Maxime Dieu looks back on its history and presents the line-up for this exceptional 40th edition, which will take place from 7 to 15 March.

Cineuropa: Could you tell us about the history of the festival?
Maxime Dieu: It’s an event which has grown over time, and which has evolved in line with cinema itself, i.e. changes in habits, new trends, and notably the digital revolution. But the festival has stayed true to what it’s advocated since the outset, in terms of content, and a desire to provide some kind of special event, attended by stars, whilst also foregrounding new voices in film. There was a real turnaround in 2019, which brought a change in direction and a new approach, but which also stayed true to the festival’s DNA.

How would you describe that DNA?
There’s the theme of love, in the wider sense, obviously. The desire to offer up arthouse cinema that’s accessible to a wide audience. There’s also the balance between celebrating talents who’ve made a career in film, and showcasing first films.

Love is a vast subject-area. How do you explore it in the festival?
We talk about love, but it’s mostly in terms of relationships, emotions. We like romantic comedies obviously, but we want to dig deeper, to look at where the theme of love begins and where it ends. It’s also a festival focused on world cinema, so there are lots of different representations of love. We don’t talk about it in the same way as they do in India or Scandinavia. And what’s also interesting is how it’s evolved over the history of film, it evolves alongside society. How this theme fits in with a particular era. We like to use our festival line-up to ask what our relationships with love and other people say about us.

The festival acts as a ferryman, showcasing films whose distribution isn’t guaranteed in Belgium.
Yes, and that’s always been the case, ever since I’ve been aware of the festival. We’ve always foregrounded the idea of offering up films which often don’t appear in the usual distribution circuits. We don’t get to see everything in Belgium. And for a few years now, the journeys films have been making have been increasingly complex, and less and less linear. It’s more complicated but it’s interesting. We see quite a few French films which no longer come to us via the traditional distribution circuits, but which can be sought out. We try to support films after the festival too, notably via the prizes we hand out.

Are there any distinguishing features among the films in your usual competition this year?
What’s becoming more and more distinctive is the borderless side of cinema. For example, we’ve got The Shameless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Konstantin Bojanov
film profile], a Swiss production directed by Konstantin Bojanov, a Bulgarian director, who’s exploring Indian society; Silver Star [+see also:
film review
film profile], an independent American film directed by two French talents, Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar, and Mexico 86 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: César Díaz
film profile] by Cesar Diaz, which is a Belgian film directed by a Guatemalan filmmaker but set in Mexico.

What can we expect from this 40th edition?
All of our usual events, plus two slightly special ones. Firstly, a special evening with twenty or so young Belgian talents who are under 40 years old and who represent the future of Belgian cinema, notably involving Michiel Blanchart who just won 10 Magritte awards, Salomé Dewaels, Paloma Sermon-Daï, Yoann Zimmer, Déborah François, etc. More than ever now, the festival is looking to the future and we really hope to ensure the continuity of this gathering. We’ll also have a special jury, the 40th Edition Jury, acting as a bridge between the festival’s history and its future. It will be composed of 5 people who’ve made history within the festival, and will also reward two first films, paying tribute to present and future film talent.

The opening and closing séances are always very popular and we opted for comedy this year. To begin with, Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], a larger-than-life story, which is French but directed by Quebec’s Ken Scott, and to close the festival, Le mélange des genres [+see also:
film review
film profile], Michel Leclerc’s new film which is a politically incorrect comedy exploring the modern world and its many colliding currents. How men and women try to understand one another and live together. We’ll also have prestigious guests, such as Tchéky Karyo, Arieh Worthalter and Sergio Castellitto, whom we just saw in Conclave [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] and who won the festival’s first ever Grand Prize with his first film Libero Burro.

(Translated from French)