The 39th edition of the Mons Love International Film Festival kicked off on 8 March with the Belgian premiere of Edouard Bergeon’s new movie, La Promesse verte, starring Felix Moati and Alexandra Lamy. 39 editions equates to 40 years of this festival welcoming films and industry talent to the Belgian town, and, in this year’s event, close to one hundred short films and feature films are set to be presented to audiences.

Ten titles are taking part in the International Competition, assessed by a jury led by Belgian director Frédéric Fonteyne. A Cineuropa jury composed of Valerio Caruso, Pilar Campos and Deny Grillo is also scheduled to single out a champion. Most noteworthy among the selection are the Hungarian movie Without Air [+lee también:
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entrevista: Katalin Moldovai
ficha de la película], which is Katalin Moldovai’s first feature film, discovered in Toronto; Jean-Bernard Marlin’s new work Salem [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], which was unveiled last year in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; German filmmaker Kilian Riedhof’s latest offering, the historical drama Stella. A Life [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kilian Riedhof
ficha de la película], starring Paula Beer; Italian opus Mia [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Ivano de Matteo; and two French films: Marguerite’s Theorem [+lee también:
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entrevista: Anna Novion
ficha de la película] by Anna Novion, which was also discovered in Cannes, and the first live action feature film by Jérémy Clapin (who caused a sensation with his animated movie I Lost My Body [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jérémy Clapin
ficha de la película]) in the form of the science-fiction story Meanwhile on Earth [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. The other films battling it out for top spot are If Only I Could Hibernate [+lee también:
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entrevista: Zoljargal Purevdash
ficha de la película] by Mongolian director Zoljargal Purevdash, Sira [+lee también:
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entrevista: Apolline Traoré
ficha de la película] by Burkinabe director Apolline Traoré, A Normal Family by Korea’s Jin-Ho Hur, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by American helmer Aitch Alberto.

The festival is also presenting an array of films screening in Belgian premieres. In addition to the afore-mentioned opening movie, it’s also well worth highlighting the festival’s closing film, Abderrahmane Sissako’s highly anticipated title Black Tea [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], which was recently seen in the Berlinale. The event also has a strong tradition of Italian films given the history of the region, meaning that viewers will get to see premieres of Fireworks [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Giuseppe Fiorello, Orlando [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Daniele Vicari and Il piu bel secolo della mia vita [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Alessandro Bardano, with filmmaker Michele Placido selected as this year’s guest of honour.

Other long-awaited premieres include that of French films Rosalie [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Stéphanie Di Giusto - starring Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Benoît Magimel, which was also presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section - and Out of Season [+lee también:
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entrevista: Stéphane Brizé
ficha de la película] by Stéphane Brizé, starring Guillaume Canet and Alba Rohrwacher, which was also selected to compete in Venice. Last but not least, the festival is hosting the first ever screening of Belgian director David Lambert’s latest opus, Turtles [+lee también:
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entrevista: David Lambert
ficha de la película], which is an homage to comedies about second marriages, revolving around a couple on the verge of a breakdown taking the unprecedented form of Olivier Gourmet (the Dardenne brothers’ hero) and Dave Johns (Ken Loach’s hero in I, Daniel Blake [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]), and that of another Belgian movie, Katika Bluu [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Stéphane Vuillet and Stéphane Xhroüet. The festival winners will be announced on 16 March.