Discoveries from Belgium World Cinema

Desperately seeking inspiration for the follow-up novel to his bestseller "Inexorable", Marcel Bellmer moves in his wife's old family mansion with his family.

Strip-tease is a Belgian-French documentary television program. Its aim is to address topics "taken from current events." Chantal, who is French, married an American doctor who is neither ugly nor poor... They live in Philadelphia in a sumptuous mansion. Chantal is now a perfect American: smiling, enthusiastic, and full of energy. Gaël, Chantal's son, a handsome young man with a degree in biology, dreams of working in a laboratory, but in the meantime works in George Perrier's restaurant. George Perrier, the prestigious French chef in Philadelphia, owns three restaurants. He sets out to conquer the symbol of America and dollars: Las Vegas. But to conquer Las Vegas, he must win over Marc Giugliano, owner of the largest casino. And he's a big shot...

In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.

Leila and Damien are deeply in love. Despite his bipolar disorder, he tries to pursue his life with her, knowing he may never be able to offer her what she desires.

In the working-class neighborhoods of Nice, a pillar of the local Georgian community is murdered. His son Tristan, who aspires to become an orthodox priest, finds himself finds himself alone with his grieving mother. Gabriel, his older brother with a troubled past, reappears from a long exile to make amends by redeeming his family honor.

In early 20th-century Naples, a theatrical parody lands beloved thespian and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta in court, facing a malicious lawsuit that could compromise his freedom of expression and the economic security of his extended family—including his son's, young Eduardo De Filippo.

Nora and Léo, 16, live in the same town, in the same suburbs, go to the same highschool, but everything opposes them: their social backgrounds, their families religions, their everyday lives. Yet, they fall in love at first sight. But from a theft accusation bringing into conflict their respective families, their love story will have to face a series of trials and dramas.

In rural France, Christophe (10) tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning — on the tractor, at school, at dinner... A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief. But will any of this really fix what is out of balance?

An English-German filmmaking couple retreat to Fårö for the summer to each write screenplays for their upcoming films in an act of pilgrimage to the place that inspired Ingmar Bergman. As the summer and their screenplays advance, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur against the backdrop of the Island's wild landscape.

The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and later Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgian overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony.

Three musicians form a band. But they're not just any musicians: each has a disability that makes them particularly unsuitable for their instrument. The guitarist is deaf, the singer is tone deaf, and the bassist has a stiff arm. They lack a drummer, and to respect the group's uniqueness, they turn to a famous writer who has never played the drums. He accepts, but begins a manipulation that will wreak further havoc on the already largely dysfunctional band.

As the star player at an elite tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet...

In the last days of the Nazi-occupied France, writer Marguerite Duras awaits the return of her husband, Robert Antelme, arrested for being a Resistance fighter and then deported, while she maintains a tense relationship with her ambiguous lover and a dangerous game with a French collaborationist. Even when the Liberation arrives, she must still endure the unbearable pain of waiting.

Pierre, a devoted father in his 50s, raises his two sons alone. When Louis, the youngest, leaves home to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, Fus, slightly older and not as successful academically, becomes more and more secretive. Driven by a fascination for violence, he gets entangled in far-right extremist groups, at the very opposite of his father’s values. Between them, there is love and hate, until tragedy happens.

After 17-year-old Kevin is released from prison for violent behavior he goes to live with his aunt and her family including Sammy, his cousin. While apprenticing as a plumber he starts to integrate with Sammy’s group of friends who are still in high school. Like all teenagers they just want to party and ignore any responsibilities, but one of them is hiding a problem at home that will put the entire group in jeopardy.

Geppetto the carpenter carves the object of his hidden desires out of a log: a puppet that will keep him company and will be like a son to him. He will call him Pinocchio. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the puppet moves, as if by magic, and is gifted with a life on its own.

Lucia, Giacomo Casanova’s only great love, leaves Italy for Amsterdam after her face has been disfigured by smallpox. Sixteen years later, they meet again when she has reinvented herself as a veiled courtesan. Without revealing her true identity or showing her face, Lucia and Giacomo become lovers once again. Will Lucia dare to reveal herself and turn her weakness into her strength so that she can be truly free in the eyes of her great love?

'Clean' is inspired by a true story about an ambitious police officer torn between his sworn duty in the 'War on Drugs' and the desperate, personal battle to save his heroin-addicted brother. As he struggles to carry out orders, he faces gut-wrenching choices that pit his loyalty to the law against his love for family. 'Clean' is a quest to expose the pain, guilt, and hope within a man forced to choose between what is right and what is required.

In the middle of a snowy no man's land, Charlotte picks up Max, a hitchhiker; they stop in a truck-stop restaurant, and when Max doesn't come back from the bathroom, Charlotte starts looking for him in vain. She decides to return during the night but gets kidnapped by the bartender, La Spack, who turns out to be Max's mother and needs to feed her kids, 'The pack', a bunch of blood lusting ghouls. Charlotte now faces a terrifying reality: these ghouls are already dead... and hungry. Alone and in the middle of nowhere, she quickly realizes... she's next on the menu!

Frantz Fanon, a French psychiatrist from Martinique, has just been appointed head of department at the psychiatric hospital in Blida, Algeria. His methods contrast with those of the other doctors in a context of colonization. A biopic in the heart of the Algerian war where a fight is waged in the name of Humanity.

The week after the French elections, the President must appoint his prime minister. In exchange for a higher position, ambitious young parliamentary attaché Nino is charged with persuading his longestranged father, a reclusive senator, to accept the post. But Lionel Perrin isn’t the only candidate for the coveted position, and in the race for power absolutely nothing is off-limits… Nino embarks on a high stakes adventure risking everything, his love life and political ambitions alike.

Pavel, an emotionally volatile and socially alienated young man, sets off across Europe in search of his idol, the enigmatic painter Arnaud. Desperately lonely and adrift, Pavel tries to adhere to the host of characters he meets along the way.

When two girls go missing, Paul Chartier, an impulsive young police recruit, is assigned to “Maldoror”. This secret unit has been set up to monitor a dangerous sex offender. When the operation fails, fed up with the limits of the legal system, Chartier embarks on a solitary hunt to bring down the culprits.

An unhealthy mind in a healthy body - Jimi, the owner of Fit-Life gym, is visited by a bailiff. He has one week to pay EUR50,000, or he will have to close his gym. Jimi is determined to keep this a secret. He makes several attempts to raise the money but fails each time. Meanwhile, his worries escalate when his great love, Liene, the Zumba instructor, brings her friend Roy to the gym. Jimi immediately dislikes Roy's perfect smile. Liene, on the other hand, would love for Roy and Jimi to get along. Jimi's world collapses when Roy reveals Liene's secret and by the end of the day, Jimi has lost more money than he has gained and is at his wit's end. However, when Liene discloses that Roy comes from a wealthy background, Jimi finds a glimmer of hope. Jimi hatches a plan, but the tables turn when he discovers that Roy has a crush on him, and Jimi's physical reaction to this is impossible to ignore, leading to an identity crisis.

Lorna is a young Albanian woman in a marriage of convenience with Claudy, a heroin addict. Just as Lorna is about to be granted Belgian citizenship, Claudy finds the strength to detox; this presents a problem not only for Lorna, but for the criminal who brokered the deal.

A group of cooks at an asylum for the criminally insane get locked in with the inmates during a massive thunderstorm

In the year 60 B.C. a group of Druids, including the arch-druid Guttuart (Max von Sydow), witness the passing of a comet and interpret it as the sign of the coming of a king for their country Gaul, which has not had a king for a long time. Guttuart goes to Gergovia, the capital of the Arvenes tribe, to attend a meeting of Gallic tribal chieftains. The young boy Vercingetorix, along with his friend the young girl Eponia, sneak into a large cavern where Celtill, Vercingetorix's father and chieftain of the Arvenes, hosts the meeting of chieftains with the intention of proclaiming himself king of all Gauls. When Celtill shows off the crown once worn by the old kings of Gaul, an arrow from two Roman spies (dressed as Gauls) hits Celtill in the back.

Jasper, a 20 something playboy with little empathy, has a date in a rather obscure motel Petit Ami with Vincent, a mysterious older man. For Jasper just another day on the job, until he discovers Vincent's secret.

11-year-old Polina, who knows nothing about her past and parents, lives with her spiteful aunt and wicked cousin. They secretly plan to get rid of the girl at the day of her birthday, all to get their hands on her mysterious inheritance. Chased by the villains, Polina manages to escape on a magical quest to discover the secret about her family. But she only has until midnight to achieve this goal.

The story of Liam, a neglected teenager who lives in a family where alcohol, violence and sex play the main role. He grows up to be a confused youngster which ends in a very aggressive act to break with his past.

13-year-old Gunther Strobbe grows up surrounded by alcohol, trash and his completely useless father and uncles. Slowly but surely, he's being prepared for the same hapless life. Can he defy his destiny?

When the delivery of presents goes wrong and Grandpa Noël gets in trouble, siblings Jules and Noor must work together to save Christmas.

After the fall of Assad’s regime, five survivors return to the former torture prison of Saidnaya to reenact what they experienced there during their incarceration. They reclaim their voices and bear witness for those who can no longer speak for themselves.

Agnès, Juliette and Carmen's neighbour, writes children's storybooks that take place in a fantasy world, The Kingdom of the Winds. The intrepid sisters discover a passageway between their world and this extraordinary universe. Once on the other side, the girls take on the appearance of cats and discover Sirocco, a terrifying character who can control the wind.

With his tribe's move to follow the migrating bison, Yakari, the little Sioux boy, sets out on his own to follow the trail of Little Thunder, a wild mustang said to be untameable. Travelling far from home and deep into the territory of the terrible cougarskins, Yakari and Little Thunder undertake a great adventure and find their way back home.

Pier Ulmann lives from hand-to-mouth in Paris, between construction work and petty theft that he commits on behalf of Rachid, his only “family”. But life catches up with him the day his father is found dead in the street after a long decline. The black sheep of a rich Antwerp family who deals in diamonds, he has left his son nothing, apart from the story of his banishment from the Ulmann family and a thirst for revenge.

Nacer, a 45 year old journalist, is observing the appearance of strange yellow sandstorms looming over Algiers and its surroundings. While covering the phenomenon for his newspaper, he starts witnessing more and more supernatural events, until his late wife Fajar returns to life. Faced with increasingly threatening storms, Samir has to face a dark past that haunts him.

Approaching age 50, singer/songwriter Nico leads a solitary existence, far from her days as a Warhol superstar and celebrated vocalist for the Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Her life and career on the fringes, Nico's new manager convinces her to hit the road again and tour in Europe to promote her latest album. She longs to rebuild a relationship with her son, whose custody she lost long ago.

Mia receives her first sex bot and tries to make it work.

What does a lifetime of service get you? That's what Inès (Jasmina Douieb) wants to find out. As the long-time office manager for EcoCleanPro Cleaning Supplies, she's the only woman on staff in this very sexist office. She does whatever it takes to keep things running – even if it means replacing toilet paper her male coworkers can't seem to do themselves. After the regional manager's visit reveals abysmal numbers in gender pay equity at EcoCleanPro, Inès wants her dedication to pay off with a raise. Unfortunately, her request is rejected by her incompetent boss Patrick (Peter Van den Begin) and, fueled by the unfairness and under the watchful eye of Melody (Laetitia Mampaka), the new intern, Inès redoubles her efforts for compensation. When her history with Patrick rears its ugly head and leads to an accident, all hell breaks loose, and the two women must combine troubleshooting skills for possibly the biggest mess of their lives.

Jules Claus has embraced Christmas again and is getting ready for the busiest time of the year together with grandpa Noël. Everything seems to go according to plan, until Jules receives a very special letter with an intriguing question...

Fourteen-year-old drug dealer Johnny is in a home for young people. When he learns that he cannot go home at weekends any longer, he asks one of his customers, famous successful actor Antony, to be his weekend guardian.

During youth fire brigade training, Mila and Amélie’s friendship grows.

Set in the American Wild West, this French-language film quickly overcomes its dire beginning--the Native American ambush of a group of immigrants--and becomes an enjoyable comedy. When the adults of Big City leave for the ambush site, the children realize they are all alone and in charge. With a cast composed almost entirely of young people...

Ava, daughter of a once successful techno DJ couple, lives with her father after her parents' divorce. When her mother, Naomi, aims for an international comeback, Ava is thrust into the world of the nocturnal club scene. While Naomi thrives in this dark arena of pounding beats, it's not Ava's world. Despite her efforts to adapt, Ava must struggle to maintain her own identity.

One night, a woman in danger calls the police. Anna takes the call. A man is arrested. Weeks go by, the courts are looking for evidence, Aly, Anna and Dary have to deal with the echoes of that night they can't shake off.

Gabrielle, a dedicated surgeon and head of a hospital department, is stretched thin by the weight of responsibility. There is little time left for her private life: a loving husband and a mother who depends on her care. Yet this is the life she wanted, the life she chose. When a novelist comes to observe her at work for a book, her balance begins to shift.

Aging opera singer Joachim Dallayrac retires from the stage and retreats to the countryside to school two young singers. Although the rigorous training takes its toll on both teacher and students, there is plenty of time for relationships to develop between the three.

Simon lives with his aging father Joseph in the south of France. When a massive wildfire devastates their tree-covered coastal region and as the warning siren reaches their home, the two must leave everything behind to escape. But the wind intensifies and the air fills with smoke as they get caught in a massive traffic jam with other evacuees while the fire is getting closer and closer. With ash soon falling like snow, the temperature rising and a menacing fire approaching, Simon must quickly find a way out to save himself and his weakened father.

When his wife's murderer is released due to a procedural error, Luc will do everything in his power to stop it from happening... He is going to take justice into his own hands and will then compete with the constitutional state which let him down.

A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student, in this charming and tender tale of young love and cultural discovery.

Summer, 1967. La Goulette, the touristic beach of Tunisi, is the site where three nice seventeen-year-old girls live: Gigi, Sicilian and Catholic; Meriem, Tunisian and Muslim; Tina, French and Jewish. They would like to have their first sexual experience during that summer, challenging their families. Their fathers, Youssef, Jojo and Giuseppe, are old friends and their friendship will be in crisis because of the girls, while Hadj, an old rich Arab, would like to marry Meriem.

Amel and her family learn that their landlord wants to get his apartment back in a few months. While Mouna, her eldest daughter, begins to have visions of Charles Martel, and their request for new social housing drags on, Amel has no choice but to reinvent herself.

A music producer spirals into an existential crisis after repeatedly failing a CAPTCHA test-leading her to question whether she might actually be a robot.

An Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv discovers a dark secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing.

Just when Lola, 18 years old and transgender, learns that she can finally have surgery, her mother, who is her only financial support, passes away. Abiding by her mother’s last wishes, Lola and her father, who are permanently in conflict and have not seen each other for two years, undertake a journey all the way to the Belgian coast. They realize the outcome of the journey may not be the one they were both expecting...

Iván (33), a trans man, and Hadoum (30), a Spanish-Moroccan woman, fall in love at the industrial greenhouse they work in. While facing the opposition from their families and co-workers, Iván realizes he doesn’t need to be the man he is expected to be.

Holly is a young, courageous hedgehog, but woefully sheltered by her overprotective Dad. Walter is an overworked, exhausted rabbit with a few dozen kids of his own, who just wants a change in his predictable routine. When this unlikely duo crashes into each other’s lives, things take a drastic turn. After a bump to the head Walter now believes that he is Sir Balderdash the Great – a hero, a warrior, a legend. While Holly, who is just thrilled to be out of the house, gets swept up in Walter's concussion fuelled fantasy.

Noah loves his girlfriend Lea and their daughter Zita dearly, just about as much as his extremely pimped car with vanity plate “H4Z4RD”. When his cousin offers him a seemingly simple job as a driver, it soon turns into an unlikely and nerve-racking race through Antwerp, which can only result in the end of Noah, his family or the car…