EXCLUSIVE: Sixty-three feature projects will be showcased at Flanders Film Days, taking place from October 7-8 in Ghent, Belgium, just ahead of the Ghent film Festival.
They will include new projects from Oscar nominees Lukas Dhont and Felix van Groeningen as well as the acclaimed Teodora Ana Mihai.
Dhont will be talking up First World War drama Coward, sold by The Match Factory, produced by The Reunion, the company Dhont runs with his brother Michiel, that is due to start shooting at the start of September.
Van Groeningen is representing relationship drama feature Let Love In, made through Hans Everaert’s Menuetto and scripted by Charlotte Vandermeersch, his partner and collaborator on Cannes jury prize winner, The Eight Mountains.
Flanders Film Days is a showcase event, supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), at which projects at different stages from both established filmmakers and emerging talents are being pitched and presented to an international audience of primarily festivals and sales agents.
Confirmed attendees so far are representatives from festivals including Venice, the Berlinale, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Black Nights and Sheffield DocFest and leading sales agents including The Match Factory, Taskovski, M-Appeal, Coproduction Office, Square Eyes and Mediawan,
Among the projects in development generating advance buzz is Arctic-set feature debut Torpor directed by Meltse Van Coillie, produced by Meuetto.
Mihai’s project, Heysel 85, about the tragedy at the football stadium, is also expected to generate strong interest among attendees. It is also produced by Menuetto.
Another works in progress project to look out for is Dust by Anke Blondé, scripted by the prolific Angelo Tijssens, produced by A Private View and sold by Denmark’s LevelK.
Further pitches of films in development include Pieter Van Hees’ Alors On Danse, a fiction feature to be produced by De Wereldvrede, and Anthony Nti and Chingiz Karibekov’s debut feature Postcard, to be produced by Caviar.
Established talents presenting works in progress will include Patrice Toye, with her new feature The Assignment, Jan Verheyen, with Team Spirit – NXT G3N, and Nathalie Teirlinck, with Jonah Was Here.
Rising Syrian-born Belgum-based filmmaker Rand Abou Fakher’s Sad Olive Seasons is in works in progress programme as is Harm Dens with sci fi drama Solipsis.
Family films at the showcase will include Daniel Lambo’s Schoof of Thieves, produced by Bulletproof Cupidand, and Frederike Migon’s work in progress title Sorry, sold internationally by LevelK.
Animation projects include Raf Wathion’s Black Wolf, and Lunanime’s anthology film Big Bang Parade, winner of last year’s development award at MIA Market. In the works in progress section, the first images will be shown of Juul, the animated feature by Tom Van Gestel, sold internationally by Studio 100.
Among the documentaries on the agenda are Kristof Bilsen’s The Apologist, and Bülent Öztürk’s To Embrace You One More Time.
Several recently finished films are in the selection, including Cecilia Verheyden’s Skiff, produced by Mirage and Outplay Films, and, fresh from its Toronto premiere, Julian, directed by Cato Kusters and sold by the Match Factory. Julian is one of several titles that will be shown online, along with Marjolijn Prins’ hybrid feature documentary
Fantastique, which had its world premiere at this year’s Locarno Festival. Itis produced by Ellen De Waele and Mirna Everhard through Serendipity Films.
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