Four Belgian films to unspool at Karlovy Vary
In 2010, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival organised a Focus on Belgian cinema, giving Czech audiences the chance to discover eight films, as well as Hitler In Hollywood [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (selected in official competition). This year, there’s no need for a Focus to spotlight films from the flat country, because four films have been selected at the festival’s 46th edition, which will run from July 1-9.
On the Flemish side, it’s a bumper year, for no fewer than three features will be shown at the festival, which is a first. In the Another View section, Gust Van Den Berghe will present Blue Bird [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was unveiled in avant-premiere at the latest Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. The film is adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck’s Nobel Literature Prize-winning play The Blue Bird. Shot in Togo, it traces the brief journey of two young children whose lives are turned upside down by their search for the blue bird.
In its Ten Euro Directors to Watch sidebar, Variety has picked Hans Van Nuffel’s latest film Oxygen [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which recently won the Audience Award at the 10th Transylvania International Film Festival. Presented in world premiere at the latest Montreal World Film Festival (where it won the Grand Prize), it has since received more than 15 prizes and special mentions at different festivals. It also enjoyed considerable box office success on its release in Belgium last September.
Finally, the Horizons section will unspool this year’s two unmissable Belgian films: Michael R. Roskam’s Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile], champion of the Flemish box office (with 440,000 admissions); and the Dardenne brothers’ The Kid With a Bike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile], which triumphed at Cannes, winning the Grand Prize.
Bullhead has also had a successful festival run: selected in the Berlinale Panorama, it went on to screen at Maastricht, Breda, and then Beaune, where it won the Critics’ Prize and Jury Prize. Ad Vitam is expected to release the film in France next January.
Meanwhile, the Dardenne brothers’ The Kid With a Bike has made a highly promising box office start. The film is expected to top 100,000 admissions in Belgium, and is also garnering great results in France.
(Translated from French)
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