Discoveries from Belgium World Cinema

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, Saor, a young androgynous Indian, carries a coffin. He is taking Valentina, his lover, back to her native village to bury her. When Valentina left this village years ago, before becoming a transgender singer in a faraway city, people here knew her as Pol. Valentina's past and death remain an enigma. Yet bit by bit, through his encounters with the people of the village, Saor begins to perceive what connected them to Pol. Sensitive to the world around him, Saor, like a Shaman, enters their memories. Saor starts to understand that, like all homosexuals persecuted by Shining Path terrorists, Pol lived in terror. In the village cemetery, between rage and bitterness, Saor attends the burial of Valentina's body. A ceremony that is both a burial and an exhumation.

Bruno is a young misfit who has recently started working in a municipal swimming pool. While he has to take care of his girlfriend's daughter, Bruno will have to face up to some unmentionable impulses.

This film deals with the fate of children during the Second World War. The Nazis divided children into two categories: “the good ones,” the Aryan children, and “the bad ones,” the others. In the name of ultranationalism, Nazism, the theory of the Übermensch, and racism, Aryan children were mentally indoctrinated, while the others were imprisoned in camps and physically destroyed. These “others” were mainly children from non-Aryan and supposedly impure races: Jews, Poles, Russians, Yugoslavs, and Roma. For this film, Lydia Chagoll conducted research in World War II documentation centers, museums, and concentration camp archives in several countries, collecting texts, documents, and photographs. The film consists of a montage of photos and footage filmed by the Nazis themselves, accompanied by voice-over commentary based entirely on quotations from Nazi publications, laws, decrees, directives, newspapers, schoolbooks, reports, and political texts.

A story about love and hope of three elderly woman wit a totally different life experience at the end of their journey of life.

Maya, a woman in her 30s, is trapped in an abusive marriage with Aron, a controlling and violent man. One terrifying night, after a brutal confrontation, she locks herself in the bathroom, desperate to escape his rage. Haunted by memories of their once-loving relationship, Maya is trapped between fear and the hope of freedom. A call to her friend Anna sparks a flicker of courage, but Aron’s manipulative and volatile behaviour pushes her to the edge.

Elza gets constantly harassed in and outside of school, in big part because of her social class. Claire and her friends could keep on going like this forever… But one day, if the opportunity presents itself to make them pay for their actions, how far will she go?

First day in a new school. Margot is scared to become the scapegoat once again. Only this time could shift.

When the three beggars Suskewiet, Pitje Vogel and Schrobberbeeck are tired of their poverty and hunger, they decide to sing Epiphany on Christmas Eve. Their plan is a triumph and they sing themselves rich. On the way back to the pub however, they get lost in the woods and witness the birth of Little Baby Jesus. Bedazzled by this miracle they decide to give away all their gifts. When next year Christmas is around, they decide to sing again. But puzzled by last year experience, they start to quarrel over the gifts. Our three friends fall apart and each go their own way.

A seemingly ordinary Belgian family navigates the quiet weight of daily life, where silence speaks louder than words. As home videos and shared routines intertwine, subtle cracks in their world reveal a presence that refuses to fade, blurring the line between memory and reality in a tender reflection on love and lingering grief.

Two young men, Karim and Nassim, live in the same neighborhood. One is a youth worker, the other is a drug dealer. One is religious, the other is frivolous. Their path will lead them to an inevitable conflict.

The Interview uses VR to put you in the role of a caseworker in an immigration office. You will interview asylum seekers. At the end of each interview, it is your job to decide who can stay and who should be asked to return to his/her country of origin. How easy is it to make that decision when the person is sitting in front of you?

From 1996 until today, 33 violent murders are perpetrated during the Halloween period in Belgium by a serial killer who calls himself "the clown". We are on the eve of Halloween. Vincent hates this party and for good reason: his father committed suicide during this period. That morning, he receives a call from his friend Alice to babysit her cats because she has to be away for a few days. On the way, he realizes that he is being chased by a strange, masked man. Very quickly, he realizes that this stranger covered in a clown mask is prowling around Alice's place, determined to enter.

Rui lives alone on the outskirts of Lisbon, making a living from illegal fishing. He sells his crabs door to door by the kilo. Using dazzling chiaroscuro effects with an impressionist touch, Ruslan Fedotow gradually reveals the daily life of a man struggling with drug addiction, and his fight to stay in touch with his son who is being kept away from him.

Lou tells his friend some highly unlikely stories.

Between segregation and cosmic revelation, The Magic City traces the birth of Sun Ra, where a city becomes myth and a man, a galaxy.

Propaganda film about Belgian pilots in the RAF during World War II and the creation of the entirely Belgian 350 Squadron in 1941.

A film by Roland Lethem

Just another moving job : tight timing, tense client, nothing out of the ordinary. But in Aurélie’s house, the air is heavier than expected. “Chokbar” and “Baby Bob” don’t know it yet, but they’re about to carry more than boxes.

While Marcel struggles, after the death of his mother, to empty the family home, a melody fills the deserted rooms. In the living room, he meets a stranger playing his late mother's cello.

Joe isn’t hard to please; fries swamped in ketchup, a fresh pint and his mates is all he needs to be happy. But he’s also got one peculiar passion… Ever since the Belgian wave of UFO observations in the 80’s, Joe has been obsessed and convinced that aliens have infiltrated every layer of society. So, as the self-professed Messiah, he’s taken it upon himself to kill off every last one of these little green men. The only problem is, they aren’t exactly green and nobody takes him seriously. But that is about to change, once a film crew meticulously documents his mission. The crew in question incredulously accepts his offer, hoping for some X-FILES slapstick while Joe himself is leaning more towards BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Literally, seeing as he’s taken up the bad habit of slaying anything that moves. A hooker here, a junkie there.

In an isolated house, in Brittany, live two sisters around whom gravitate a whole series of strange characters. Between the eruption of the vagrant voyeur and that of the couple in love, the youngest kills her eldest and goes mad.

Franco’s dictatorship, one of the longest and most violent dictatorial regimes in the history of the 20th century, has been kept silent by Spain since the transition and the recovery of democracy. In December 2007 following the approval of the controversial Historical Memory Law, whereby the Spanish government finally intends to lift the veil over this dark period, and thus do justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of Francoism. From this starting point, the filmmaker José-Luis Peñafuerte (grandson of exiles) takes us on an authentic film journey through the roots of that hidden European memory, in order to open a window against oblivion.

On November 11, 1918, amidst the chaos of the western front, a German aviator narrowly escapes death in a crash near a Belgian trench. Forced to conceal his identity, he embarks on a perilous journey to evade capture and reunite with his comrades. However, as suspicions arise among his adversaries, his covert mission becomes increasingly fraught with danger.

Ralph returns home and is kidnapped by mysterious assailants: an Asian femme fatale and her Italian henchman. Between gore and unbridled eroticism, they redouble their perversity in torturing their victim. But what do these shady individuals really want ?

Stage registration of the sixteenth show by the Flemish cabaret duo Kommil Foo. 'Schoft' is, once again, a show about the human condition. About mankind who tries to hold his own, but inevitably stumbles and falls. Time and again man will scramble up, only to fall again later. A laughable, but also comforting thought.

Bobel, a poisonous little mushroom, dreams of becoming a cook at his village market. But the prejudices of the villagers will make his task difficult.

Whispers Of The Waves is a supernatural kidnapping story featuring Jacob and Andrew who set off to the Belgian beaches of De Panne and get kidnapped by a mysterious man called Albert. Albert lives in a big mansion near the sea and writes a book. The teenagers he kidnapped become the characters of his book. Albert gives them a seashell that will torment Jacob and Andrew throughout the story.

If the house is just a dormitory, a simple place to eat and sleep, then it is no longer the embodiment of our struggle.

Throughout the ages, erotic art has been created by some of the world's best-known artists, but it is rarely on public display. Whether it is held in private collections, or kept under lock and key in museums and libraries worldwide, erotic art and literature remains censored. But when graphic, even extreme sexual imagery is freely available on the Internet, why is erotic art considered so dangerous that it must be prohibited? Filmed in England, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the U.S., SECRET MUSEUMS explores the locked rooms, warehouses, museum cellars, bank safes and private homes where erotica is hidden, from the British Museum and the National Library of France to Munich's National Graphics Collection and the Vatican, home of the world's largest collection of pornography. Gaining access to carefully guarded collections with names such as "Secretum," "Gabinetto Segreto" and "L'Enfer," the film reveals books and images never before filmed or photographed.

A lonely machine finds a sort of love in his advanced android successor. Can he handle loving someone who makes him obsolete?

On a brief visit to her home country, Gabi learns she can only see her son for one day instead of three.

Kamal Kharmach makes his debut as 'end-of-year presenter'. Following his successful tour 'De schaamte voorbij' (Beyond Shame), the comedian shares his thoughts on everything that caught his attention this year in 'Mag ik even' (May I just...). He does so in his typical, seemingly shy, yet socially critical and above all hilarious style. A year full of climate protesters and without governments, resigning ministers and technically unemployed politicians, the burned-down Notre Dame, Brexit, baby Pia and the Flemish Canon: plenty of material for a spectacular conference debut.

Two fathers struggle to find a way to cohabit with their possessed daughter. Every night, the same thing happens over and over. Giles and Sean's daughter runs around their flat, screaming, scratching walls - possessed by a demon. They're terrified of their own daughter and don't know what to do about it.

In this sequel to Blueberry Hill, the boys of the Catholic metal working-class, who are now all working, decide to take revenge on the hated former principal Verbiest, after the sanctimonious 'pillar of society' assaulted one of their girls.

We follow Nelle on the day she returns home after a year of solo travel. Excerpts from her travel diary reveal the thoughts of the past year. The joyful reunion with her sister and father is quickly overshadowed by the question: "What now?" How does she want to shape her young adult life? Has she made the right choices recently? At the point where Nelle can no longer avoid these questions, the viewer meets her.

The 6th short film as part of the Magica series dealing with pre-cinema. Featuring demonstrations of magic lanterns by children.

Melodrama about love and deceit.

Lost in his nightmares, Thierry the lighthouse keeper gloomily watches the jellyfish as they float past his window… It has been many years since his lighthouse sunk under the ocean. In her empty room, Lucie gazes at a picture of a faraway beach. Lucie falls asleep. Thierry sleeps fitfully. They are to meet on the beach of their dreams.

A recollection of the director's fragmented memory he had at the time when his grandmother passed away. The film is a space-time conservation of his house in Bangkok, Thailand.

'Ungodly' is a magical-realist film about a talented hip-hop dancer who has completely lost touch with his community. When he makes a comeback to the battle scene to mentor his friend, he ends up not only battling his opponents, but also has to face his own past.

After the Nazi's had invaded Belgium in 1940, they started experimenting on Jews. Little did they know what consequences one of their experiments would have.

This year, King will celebrate Christmas with the most hospitable of his subjects, whoever that might be. Mouse hopes King will choose her, so she starts to make the cave as cosy as possible, but that just causes a disagreement with the overprotective Dragon. The pair even fight at the Christmas market, and go their separate ways. Mouse hangs out with the foul-mouthed Brother, while an unfortunate spell renders Dragon invisible and inaudible. Which makes a reconciliation difficult, of course.

A contemporary art gallery organizes an exhibition presenting several art performances. The cleaning lady Ilidia has trouble understanding the aim of such performances and gets irritated by the visitors’ behaviors. The evening could end badly…

While reading the diaries of his grandfather, imprisoned during the dictatorship of Hoxa in Albania, the director recognises the pigeon outside his window that kept him company during his incarceration. A short circuit that leads him to reflect on the open wounds of family history.

Elias has hardly left his childhood behind him than he is sent to boarding school with his older cousin. But before that he spends his holidays on the isolated estate belonging to his family, a little group fully out of touch with the world. —Hannelore Goossens

An intergalactic explorer on a mission to seek out intelligent life struggles to say sane.

Filmmaker Sarah Vanagt shoots with a small camera as she wanders through Brussels, where she encounters Polish, Iranian, Brazilian, Belgian, and Moroccan construction laborers, busy at work. At her request, they write notes addressed to future generations, and then hide them—beneath paving stones, inside pipes, or behind walls. Sometimes it’s a wish or reflection; sometimes simply a greeting from the present. One reads: “When you find this, I hope the world is a better place.”

The excessive nights, the good atmosphere and the camaraderie reign in the apartment of Gill, Rémi, Alwin and Patrick. They thought that their virile friendship was foolproof, but Patrick hides an unsettling secret that could disrupt the balance of the group and distress the whole world.

A short feature about a young man who buys a Polaroid camera and gets more than he bargained for.