01/09/2010

If there has been one feature audiences have been waiting for with bated breath, it has to be Koen Mortier’s 22nd of May [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Mortier unveiled his debut feature Ex-Drummer [+see also:
trailer
film profile] back in 2007, an odd Flemish title of bad taste bordering on the limits of sensationalism and sordid realism. Centred on a rock band of disabled musicians looking for a drummer, the film takes an interesting twist when a nihilist writer pretends to be disabled so he can investigate unchartered territory for his next book, thereby plunging into an abysmal world riddled with drugs, unemployment, poverty and extreme physical and social violence. Adapted from the eponymous book by Herman Brusselmans, Ex-Drummer quickly became the focus of an underground mini-cult while touring international festivals, raising Koen Mortier to an icon of Flemish neo-trash (a genre ‘kindly’ explored by The Misfortunates [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
film profile]).

North American festival organisers and film professionals will be eagerly awaiting 22nd of May on September 13th when the title makes its international preview screening at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. Little is actually known about the film, but just the right amount to whet curiosity. The central character is Sam (Sam Louwyck, Lost Persons Area [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), a dull, divorced forty-something security guard working in a shopping centre. Like every day, Sam washes and shaves himself, prepares his sandwiches and takes the bus to go to work. Like every day, a teenager like everyone else passes him without the slightest bit of notice. Like all the others, the teenager has a rucksack. But this one is different, he jumps on Sam. 22nd of May is like an explosion, a sort of chaos at the heart of everyday life.

The film is produced by Belgian outfits Epidemic and Ryva, IJswater Films and Revolver in the Netherlands and The Postrepublic in Germany, with support from VAF, CCA, Tax Shelter, Nederlandse Filmfonds, Rotterdam Media Fonds and CANVAS. Belgian release is scheduled for November 17th through Kinepolis.

(Translated from French)