18/01/2012

Ramdam, the festival of disturbing films, opened yesterday in Tournai. Created last year, this festival aims to put the spotlight on daring, deranged and disturbing films, which go off the beaten track and make a principle of avoiding any half-heartedness. The line-up includes about 20 films, with more than half in Belgian preview.

Among the European titles is Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska’s fourth feature, Elles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Sumowska
film profile], starring Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig and Louis-do de Lencquesaing. It centres on a level-headed journalist whose life takes a different turn when she starts investigating student prostitution.

Audiences will also get the chance to discover Paddy Considine’s debut directorial film Tyrannosaur [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (winner of three gongs at the latest British Independent Film Awards, and Best Foreign Film and Special Jury Prize for Acting at Sundance), which includes a perfect role for Peter Mullan, the unforgettable Joe in Ken Loach’s film.

Finally, Ramdam will unveil a Walloon preview screening of the eagerly-awaited (and that’s an understatement) Tot Altijd, the new film by Nic Balthazar, based on a true story that had a profound effect on Belgium: the fight by Mario Verstraete, a young politician with multiple sclerosis, to obtain the right to die in dignity. The film will be released next week in Belgium.

The festival opened with a preview screening of Julie Leigh’s Australian film, Sleeping Beauty, which attracted attention at Cannes. It will also show South African director Oliver Hermanus’s second film Beauty, which offers an uncompromising portrayal of the Afrikaner community, whilst avoiding over-simplification; Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance, an overview of Iranian youth; and Detachment by Tony Kaye, director of the controversial American History X. For the latter film, the festival has even gone as far as inviting Oscar-winning actor Adrian Brody, a prestigious guest for its second edition!

The other distinctive feature of the festival is its local context. While there is no arthouse cinema in Tournai, auteur films are actively defended locally by Tournai’s Maison de la Culture, whose screenings are hosted by the commercial cinema Imagix. This festival is a joint initiative between the two entities (along with the town, the region and local TV station). Whilst we may bemoan the sparse network of arthouse theatres in Wallonia, this type of alliance is a real opportunity to give visibility to auteur productions in the region.

(Translated from French)