Discoveries from Belgium World Cinema

The city is being tormented by the devil. Bunny calls his wife.

In this gripping short drama, Domé, a young woman from Gabon who speaks flawless French, is apprehended at the airport on her way into Belgium. She says she’s a French citizen—a businesswoman on her way to meet with suppliers. Border control agents say she’s lying and traveling with a stolen passport. Shut in a bare interrogation chamber, Domé faces dehumanizing treatment from accusers, firmly answering the same questions over and over. While left on her own, she can hear cries coming from the next room. Trying to stave off deportation, Domé asks to use the bathroom. There, she carries out a traditional ritual—one which could cost her her life, or give her a chance at a new one. YOU WILL BE MY ALLY is an early work of Rosine Mbakam’s that already shows the themes which have come to inform the award-winning filmmaker’s career.

Documentary about a man remembering his struggles while floating on a boat down a river.

An old man relives the night he lost the woman he loved.

Infinite Drift tells the story of Astrid, a young woman, troubled by an ennui towards life. She spends her days sleepless and her nights alone, watching video's on the internet of trains in Norway. She is harassed daily by an American who calls her and claims she still owes him a large amount of money. Her only escape is her hypnotizing electronic music. One night she meets another likely and meandering soul, Ajab. Soon they form a strong and special connection. In a world where almost all meaning seems to be superficial, Ajab's arrival finally makes Astrid feel a sense of purpose.

Bruno is a sensitive and impulsive young man of 24. He dreams of a career as a cellist, but has a job as a supply clerk at a bookstore. He is trying to get over an unhappy love affair and feels lonely. When he falls in love with a new girl and things don't work out, Bruno blows his top. He attempts suicide, but is eventually saved. Although the film treats the theme of suicide attempts by young people, it is first and foremost about how difficult it is to handle emotions such as love, solitude, disappointment and friendship... It's about the search for one's own place in a metropolis.

After a suspicious incident between a guard and one of the young detainees of a juvenile detention center, an educator named Eva starts to question the guard's side of the story.

Baptiste has been dumped. Alone, he waits for his friend Karim to help him get rid of the last piece of furniture in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend: a sofa. When Karim arrives, he tells him that he too has been dumped.

A Long Goodbye tells the story of Ida, a 72-year-old pianist living with dementia. In this animated, interactive VR experience, we walk in Ida’s shoes. We experience a day in her life, as her reality is fading.

For the past 17 years, Marie Losier has captured the dynamic and provocative essence of Peaches, the trailblazing feminist queer icon. This intimate portrait offers a deep dive into the life of an inspiring, taboo-shattering artist. Discover Peaches’ electrifying concerts, her close bond with her sister and how her boundless energy, fearless exploration on and off stage has transformed every phase of her life into a captivating work of art.

Three men, surrounded by sleeping passengers, wake up on a stationary train. When it leaves them behind in a desolate area, a journey through a graphic snowy landscape commences.

Nine year old Gloria receives a cardboard city from her dad. Soon the city comes alive in her imagination. In this happy world she experiences crazy adventures, but it is also confronts her with the harsh reality of life.

Will Tura invites more than twenty top artists, who will all perform a song from his extensive repertoire in his presence. With video footage from Will's rich past, this unique concert will be a journey through the rich work and life of the Emperor of Flemish song. Will Tura will be honored by more than 20 top Flemish artists. Bart Peeters, CAPPAERT, Christoff, Cleymans & Van Geel, Clouseau, Daan, Free Souffriau, Geike Arnaert, Günther Neefs, Helmut Lotti, Jasper Steverlinck, Joost Zweegers, Luc Steeno, Metejoor, Natalia, Niels Destadsbader, Ozark Henry, Paul Michiels, Peter Vanlaet, Ruben Block, Sandra Kim, and Stijn Meuris will honor him in a unique way. They will each 'adopt' one of Will Tura's gems (almost 60 number 1 hits in Flanders) in order to present songs from his entire repertoire in the presence of the Master himself.

Ensconced in a solitary existence, Paweł believed that his feelings for the young man he once loved in Brussels had long since ebbed. That is, until one rainy afternoon, when he finds Clément waiting at his home in Poland.

Marion Hänsel directed this personal meditation on the joys and responsibilities of parenthood, in which a narrator reads Hansel's philosophic musings on raising her young son on her own, while carefully shot and selected footage of different cloud formations from around the world provide a striking visual backdrop. Catherine Deneuve read Hänsel's text in the original French-language version of Nuages; Charlotte Rampling did the honors for the English-language print, while Barbara Auer, Carmen Maura, and Antje De Boeck respectively lent their voices to the German, Spanish, and Dutch editions of the film.

An analysis of the work of Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman (1950-2015), an experimental and innovative artist, both in content and form, who has left her mark on cultural memory and on the creations of other artists.

Set in a scorching Brussels, Babel Opera blends documentary and fiction during the intense rehearsals of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. As an international cast struggles to bring the opera to life, four fictional characters appear around the set. Their real-life conflicts, infidelities, and passions begin to mirror the seductions of the opera itself, completely blurring the lines between art and reality as the grand premiere approaches.

Winter 1986. Due to heavy snowfalls Mum and Dad won't be back to the chalet until morning. Simon and Eva, the children, are on their own. At night, they hear strange noises.

Joséphine is 15 years old and lives with her mother, brother and sister in a caravan in an old holiday campsite that has become residential. Social services want her to testify against her mother. In the midst of questioning, she will get closer to Elsa, a camping teenager with a strong character. A new life then seems to be offered to Joséphine, that of a young girl of her age.

Flight 623 from Berlin is delayed by 15 minutes. Enough time for two men of very different ages to reconsider part of their lives. These two men have one thing in common: the last drop...

From his birth in the South of France up to his military service, “When Dad joined Mum” retraces the first twenty years of Eric’s life and the upbringing he received as a boy who was brought up by a single mum. Through Super 8 reels, the story of an impossible emancipation unfolds as well as the portrait of a woman being devoured by her pain.

West Flanders, 1940. The Germans have invaded Belgium. In a state of panic, thousands of people flee to France. Among them are ten-year-old Waldo and his parents. They travel through the Poperinge and Ypres region toward the border. There, Waldo’s parents are killed in a bombardment. Waldo continues toward the coast with his fourteen-year-old neighbor, Vera. A journey with a tragic end

An intimate portrait of director Peter Brook by his son, Simon Brook.

Autumn 1985. A storm awakens the Mediterranean. A village is devastated, crops destroyed. On the beach, the waves have washed up a whale. Dead, it is declared a carrier of disease. Corbac, a sick and misanthropic winegrower, wants to save the cetacean's skeleton from being blown up for sanitary reasons. Day and night, his daughter Mathilde watches as the largest of creatures is paraded piece by piece in front of the church, the school, and the distillery, awakening the unconsciousness and violence of the villagers. Mathilde knows her father. He will see it through to the end...

When a logger discovers a brutally mutilated body in the forest, he goes into a catatonic state and gets the unexpected help of Death herself.

A computer screen, images from the four corners of the world. We cross borders in one-click while another trip’s story reach us in bits, through text messages, chats, phone conversations, and an immigration office’s questionnaire. It’s the journey of Shahin, a 20-year-old Iranian boy who, fleeing his country alone, lands in Greece, then winds his way to England where he claims asylum.

A seven-year-old child, his brother Billy and their depressed mother live on a farm. Then something painful happens to the family and the kids are left to live by themselves.

François and his girlfriend Pauline are spending the weekend in the country with a couple of friends, Clémence and Laurent. François has just been told of Clémence’s pregnancy. She was his girlfriend a long time ago.

An anxious woman navigates the bustle of modern day Cairo to find her missing lover, a young adult strives for an authentic connection in a future society numbed by alcohol, and two Cold War-era lovers face the consequences of finding romance across political borders. A vibrant collection of short films - by turns gritty and dreamlike - exploring the changes and complexities of a Love Evolving.

OK Boomer Belgian Mini Series

After his release from the military hospital where he was receiving treatment for a past trauma, Hakan tries to resume a normal life and form a proper relationship with his daughter. Excelling for its mature performances and its stylisation of image and sound, the film foregrounds Hakan’s wounded soul and underlines his vehement efforts to break free from his own private prison.

The Tersago family isn't your average family business: clowns by day, thieves by night. They get arrested following a robbery homicide in a villa in Brasschaat, but let off for lack of evidence, except for son Wesley. Wesley's sister Amber decides to finish Wesley's wacky reality movie herself. Father Ronny wants to get out of organized crime and launder the stolen money with the production of a musical. Ronny and his companion Lou get approached by two police inspectors entirely convinced of their involvement with the robbery homicide. The stolen money is rumored to belong to a powerful Russian drug lord. The Tersago's now realize their lives are in danger. An armed man slips into the theater during the premiere of the musical while son Wesley plans an escape from prison.

Three sisters visiting their uncle in his island home, find themselves alone with the late uncle's manservant. Their relations reveal a dark side in all of them, and gender, racial, and class tensions that lead to situations of humiliation, domination and sex, and death.

Odessa is a young warrior in a strange world. As a child, she receives a prophecy from her master, and now she trains her body and spirit to achieve her destiny.

A naked couple are lost at sea on a small piece of tree bark. Failing to find the dolphin or to understand each other’s desires and boundaries, they must fight for their survival and the survival of their relationship through a bloody battle, before reaching the shore.

A virgin gets visited by the Devil.

Dekeukeleire's film evokes the notion of impatience via fragmented images of a revving motorcyle, a woman's expressions, and roads of a mountainous landscape.

After a suicide attempt, Jason spends the summer with his grandmother, Aimée. Each week, a taxi takes him to his physiotherapy sessions, driven by Agatha. To escape the truth about his accident, Jason invents a new life for himself during the rides, turning the road into an imaginary and romantic escape.

The film purports to be the second version of a (fictional) film made by Baudelaire in 1850 in memory of his (actual) voyage across the Pacific. It was shot using a world map mounted on black board, filmed in its entirety and in extreme close-up.

Betty (24), wakes up in a burns unit in hospital, crippled with pain and swaddled in bandages. She swings between dreams and memories, trying to free herself of the terror a violent man has aroused in her.

The 8th short film as part of the Magica series dealing with pre-cinema. Fictionalised documentary about Emile Reynau who invented the praxinoscope and its system of central mirrors. He then projects his paper strips into the projection praxinoscope before creating the Théâtre Optique, presented at the Musée Grévin. The perforated strips are fragile and often break. The show is cancelled. Reynaud tries to apply photography to his praxinoscope, but without success. Desperate and ruined, he throws his strips into the Seine. Only two survived.

The unique local queer community that once thrived in the Alzou Valley has vanished. Alzou - the deity of the river - moves cautiously through the landscape, lost yet determined, searching for a way to restore balance in the valley after years of exile. The dense forest envelops them, whispering its secrets as they linger in silence, attempting to reconnect with nature.

A woman tries to put some new life into her failed marriage by delving into the world of Japanese pop-culture. Every morning, she prepares a cute Japanese lunchbox (Bento) for her husband, Frank, who works in the waste collection center. Frank is more interested in his beautiful, young, male colleague and secretly throws his lunchbox away before anyone sees it.

A jazz singer who abandoned her mentally handicapped daughter at birth tries to reconnect with her. The dialogue, though not easy, is gradually re-established with the help of the “Hammer Fishes”, a rock band made up of patients from the institution.

An extraterrestrial duo crosses the universe to share technological insights with less brilliant minds. On one peculiar planet, things don't quite go as planned.

The struggle of a female doctor against superstition and healers.

From his prison cell in Texas, Mabry, sentenced to death, imagines the final journey that will one day take him to Walls Unit, the place of his execution, 60 kilometres away.

Binaud would like to tell the story of his love for Claude, the slowest cashier in the world, but he is questioned by the police.

William, eight years old, is used to getting anything he wants. He demands Santa himself as his Christmas present, so his father hires a famous hunter. Will William's rash demand bring an end to the magic of Christmas?