Festival films in Belgian theatres

Two chimney sweeping friends stare deep into the shaft of their identity in this refreshing and bittersweet reflection on gender and sexuality. Without shouting it from the rooftops, Norwegian dramedy Sex by writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud looks for liberation within the ...

Leonardo van Dijl's feature debut about a tennis prodigy refusing to speak up amidst abuse allegations directed at her coach sees its protagonist at a breaking point in her career. Economically told and paired with Karakatsanis' muted photography, this tense portrait of an ...

Before setting up his business in the White House, Donald Trump closed a Faustian business deal with his spiritual godfather Roy Cohn in the 1970s. At least, that’s the premise of the anti-state portrait The Apprentice. Sharklike co-stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong smell ...

He was almost deemed immortal, but in 2018, at the age of 94, French-Armenian singer-actor Charles Aznavour passed away. In the rise-to-stardom biopic Monsieur Aznavour, Golden Globe-nominated actor Tahar Rahim transforms into the music legend who fought to succeed as an ...

After 26 TV episodes and even more books, Fox and Hare are finally ready for their first theatrical film, in which they face a Beaver with a massive ego and an even more massive dam. In her first 3D animation feature, Oink director Mascha Halberstad brings along her charms and ...

After previously helping to adapt his own novels for the big screen - leading him to Cannes for The Misfortunates, acclaimed Belgian author Dimitri Verhulst now makes his debut as a director, not losing a single touch of his characteristic humour in the process. The Weeping Walk ...

Midas Man is an engaging biopic about the genius behind The Beatles, manager Brian Epstein. He saw the potential of the band early on and would continue to manage the quartet until his untimely death. His life seemed full of glamour and success, but in reality he was tormented ...

A celebrity written off by her age seeks refuge in a dubious miracle drug. The Substance unravels into a gloriously over-the-top body horror satire on how Hollywood treats women’s bodies. At Cannes, director Coralie Fargeat was awarded for her feminist-inspired script. A ...

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Irish author Claire Keegan whose novella Foster made it to the Oscars as The Quiet Girl, the understated moral drama Small Things Like These follows a coal merchant (played by Academy Award-winner Cillian Murphy) in 1980s Ireland. His ...

Führer und Verführer explores how Joseph Goebbels transformed Adolf Hitler into a powerful symbol for Nazi Germany. Through sophisticated propaganda techniques, he manipulated millions, shaping their perception of Hitler and steering them toward war. Blending documentary footage ...

Freelance writer Max leads a double life as a sex worker in London in search of inspiration for his first novel. His encounters with countless men have repercussions for his self-esteem, causing the wholesome boy next door to soon feel the ground falling from underneath his ...

No Other Land records the systematic destruction of Palestinian activist Basel Adra's home on the West Bank and his unlikely friendship/alliance with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. Their powerful Palestinian-Israeli collective, with co-directors Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, ...

Three flatmates share the promise of love and bloody sorrow in Les femmes au balcon (The Balconettes). From behind the balustrade, actor-director Noémie Merlant and co-writer Céline Sciamma (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) cast a confident gaze at male violence and female ...

Vingt Dieux captures the boundless energy of youth and the challenges of growing up in rural France. Through the journey of eighteen-year-old Totone, who decides to compete in a cheese-making competition, the film explores themes of responsibility, identity, and ambition, set ...

A young Guinean in Paris tries to survive as a food deliverer. At the same time, he does everything in his power to obtain legal status. With his tender drama, reminiscent of the Dardennes, director Boris Lojkine confronts us with a reality that is too easily forgotten. ...

In Animale, Emma Benestan explores the journey of a young woman determined to become a bullfighter. This raw French drama powerfully contrasts female strength with traditional masculinity. Set against the backdrop of the bull-running tradition in the south of France, the film ...

As its home is devastated by a great flood, a cat finds refuge on a boat populated by various species. With emotions and animations flowing just as freely as the water that endangers its characters, Flow is a wordless tour-de-force by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis that ...

The rights of LGBTQAI+ individuals in Hong Kong are subpar, as revealed in the understated mourning drama All Shall Be Well. When Angie, in her sixties, loses her partner with whom she had been living together for the past thirty years, she also faces the threat of losing the ...

In religious eighteenth-century Austria, the daily oppression of newly-wed Agnes gradually takes its toll. The dowry turns out to be a depression. Her prayer beads chain her hands. Can Agnes free herself from eternal damnation? Ten years after making audiences shiver with Ich ...

In the mid-1990s, the Belgian gendarmerie secretly runs a three-man operation to track down two missing girls. The manhunt for the prime suspect and his accomplices eats away at the soul and personal life of Paul Chartier, a fresh-faced and idealistic police officer with a short ...

Maria Callas remains the most captivating opera singer in history. For his latest drama, acclaimed filmmaker Pablo Larraín - director of the biopics Jackie and Spencer - has convinced none other than Angelina Jolie to embody the legendary Greek-American soprano.

“Discover the love story that shook French pop”, as presented by extravagant YouTuber Steevyshady in Les Reines du drame. In his Queer Palm-nominated musical melodrama, director Alexis Langlois marries pop music with queer and punk culture. A sincere and irresistible salute to ...

A gripping family chronicle told in four chapters (or seasons), Vermiglio tells the story of three sisters, a moody father and a seemingly lost soldier in an Italian mountain village at the end of World War II. When Pietro, a young Sicilian soldier arrives in the village with an ...

German veteran director Andreas Dresen's In Liebe, Eure Hilde serves a humanist and affecting story of courage and perseverance. The Hilde in question is Hilde Coppi who, together with her husband Hans, joins the resistance against the Nazi regime during World War II. But they ...

Mawda Shawri, two years old in 2018, sister of Hama, daughter of Phrast and Shamden, was shot dead by a Belgian police officer during a migration border control on a Belgian central highway. Robin Vanbesien's hold on to her is the depiction of a collective hearing: various ...

In his debut film The Village Next to Paradise, the first Somali film ever featured at the Cannes Film Festival, Mo Harawe delves into the struggles of a father and son living in a remote village by the Indian Ocean. Amidst idyllic surroundings, they navigate the constant threat ...