16/10/2008

Bilingual directors, young newcomers about to start their second film, champions of the short, Dutch directorial duos and animated film collaborations: the second 2008 session of the Film Selection Committee of the French Community Film Centre put the emphasis on variety.

Six feature film projects can thus get underway thanks to a writing grant worth €12,500. The six debut works promise to bring a breath of fresh air to an already vibrant Belgian film scene. We will have more information about the projects after the forthcoming committee sessions.

Production funding is shared out between seven projects characterised by their diversity and ambition. Some of the films take us on a journey: across the US in Amsterdam Stories USA by Dutch directors Rob Rombout and Rogier van Eck (produced by Saga Film); to the depths of Russia in Vanja D’Alcantara’s Les Steppes de Sibérie (“Siberian Steppes”, Need Productions); between Bosnia and Belgium with the illegal immigrant at the centre of Illégal by Olivier Masset-Depasse, who continues his fruitful collaboration with Versus Production; and to 1980s Morocco in Khadija Leclère’s Le Sac de Farine (“Bag of Flour”, Stromboli Pictures).

Viewers are plunged into an animated world in Une vie de chat (“A Cat’s Life”) by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, which is co-produced with France, where the film received an advance on receipts and backing from France 3 Cinéma and Canal +. The film will be produced for Belgium by Digit Anima.

Tarantula Productions prefer to leave L’Hiver Dernier (“Last Winter”) – the debut feature by young Belgian-US director John Shank – shrouded in mystery.

Finally, Miel Van Hoogenbemt will make a French-language film, after the popular success of Dutch-language hit A Perfect Match. The director’s loyal collaborators, Entre chien et loup, will produce Fils Unique (“Only Son”), which tells the story of a thwarted reunion between an adult son and his father, whom he calls "the ogre ".

(Translated from French)