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Belgium is approaching the 30th anniversary of the start of a dark chapter in its history in which pedophile Marc Dutroux abducted six young girls from June 1995 to August 1996.

Imprisoning them in the basement of his house in the former coal-mining town of Marcinelle, the convicted sex offender tortured and sexually abused his young victims, killing four of them.

Mélissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, who were just eight years old, died of starvation and dehydration, while An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, were buried alive. Sabine Dardenne, 12, and Laetitia Delhez, 14, were freed following Dutroux’s arrest in August 1996.

In a bold cinematic move, Belgian director Fabrice du Welz revisits the case in high-octane crime thriller Maldoror, which weaves in details of the real affair with the fictitious journey of a young police officer played by Anthony Bajon.

“I was about 20 when the Marc Dutroux Affair broke in Belgium,...

WTFilms will be at the Rendez-Vous with a genre-focused slate.

Paris-based sales outfit WTFilms has taken on Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian crime thriller Maldoror and unveiled a first look at the film inspired by a true story.

The film stars Anthony Bajon as an impulsive police recruit tasked with a secret mission to track a dangerous sex offender. But when the operation fails, he goes rogue to hunt down the culprits. Now in post, the film is produced by Belgium’s Frakas Productions, with The Jokers Films’ production arm.

Maldoror also stars Alexis Manenti, Béatrice Dalle, Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas...

Netflix on Tuesday unveiled four new Italian originals – two feature films and two series – that confirm its continued investment in Italy as local subscribers grow. The new projects also bolster the fact that the bulk of the streamer’s Italian productions are not high end and have a primarily local focus.

During a Rome presentation Eleonora Andreatta – affectionately known as Tinny – who is Netflix’s VP of Italian originals, said that Netflix remains “committed to our investment in Italy and Italian stories with conviction, continuing our long-term commitment to the country and its creative community.”

Andreatta, who owing to having caught Covid-19 was speaking remotely to the packed room, described Netflix’s lineup as being characterised by “Authentic stories, able to speak to the present [and] about the present and [which can] emotionally touch the audience on issues closest to the lives they live.”

According to data released last month by Italy’s...

Belgium’s Panique!, and Chile’s Pájaro have joined Oscar-nominated Vivemant Lundi! and Spanish collective Terremoto Aie to round out the co-production force behind the animated feature, “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake.”

Filmax will handle distribution in Spain. Kmbo will handle its domestic release in France. The Gallic distributor is on a roll with strong animation box office performances in France for “Amazing Maurice” and current Ukrainian hit “Mavka: The Forest Song,”

Spearheading the production is Terremoto Aie, which includes Citoplasmas Stop Motion studio, Cornelius Films, and Bígaro Films, all contributing to the feature.

Directed by Irene Iborra, who founded Citoplasmas with Eduard Puertas and Adrian Iborra, the film brings to life the children’s book, “La Pelicula de la vida,” by Maite Carranza. The title sold over 24,000 copies in Spain and has been translated into seven languages. Adding a dash of French talent, artist Morgan Navarro has crafted the character designs.

“My Life As a Zucchini” director Claude Barras has set up his latest stop-motion animated feature, “Savages!”

Production company Gebeka International — a Hildegarde-Goodfellas company formed in 2021 — and production, financing and sales studio Anton are behind the project, which will be written by Barras and Catherine Paille (“Magnetic Beasts”). The project will be shopped to buyers in Cannes next week.

“Savages!” follows the emotional journey of a girl, her father and a rescued baby orangutan. The film has a strong environmental and conservationist message, exploring the crisis of the destruction of rainforests.

An official synopsis for the film reads as follows: “In Borneo, at the edge of the tropical forest, Kéria is given a baby orangutan that has been rescued from the palm oil plantation where her father works. At the same time, Kéria’s younger cousin Selaï comes to live with her and her father as he seeks refuge from...

Elsa Zylberstein (“Simone: Woman of the Century”) will star as the French feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir in a feature film that will be penned by Oscar-winning writer Christopher Hampton and directed by Anne Fontaine.

Zylberstein’s Sonia Films will produce the film with Philippe Carcassone’s banner Cine@ and Master Movie, the production vehicle of Marco and Lola Pacchioni.

Rather than a biopic, the movie will revolve around the passionate transatlantic romance between de Beauvoir and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Nelson Algren.

Zylberstein has scooped the adaptation rights of de Beauvoir’s “Lettres à Nelson Algren” from Gallimard. Through those letters, the film will chart the pair’s affair, which spanned nearly two decades from 1947, in the aftermath of World War II, to 1964. Two-thirds of the movie will take place in Chicago, and the reminder will unfold in Paris.

Zylberstein said Hampton has penned a treatment and is expected to...

Inexorable

Hot on the heels of his Locarno debuted Adoration (read review), the final chapter in his thematic Ardennes trilogy, Belgian auteur Fabrice du Welz moves immediately into production on his seventh feature, Inexorable, which promises to reutilize the troubled young woman played by Fantine Harduin at the center of his last film. With Frakas Productions on board, du Welz reunites with The Jokers Films for what promises to be a low-key chamber piece about an author and his disturbing new muse, co-written by Aurelien Molas.

Gist: Marcel Bellmer has never been able to deal with success, which has caused him great strain after the publication of his celebrated debut novel, Inexorable.…...

Frakas Prods., the Belgian independent company behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw,” is collaborating with another promising filmmaker, Christophe Hermans, on his feature debut, “Hive,” which a teenage-driven psychological thriller.

The film, which just wrapped shooting, is headlined Ludivine Sagnier opposite Sophie Breyer, Mara Taquin and Bonnie Duvauchelle, as well as Romain Guillermic.

Adapted from Arthur Loustalot’s novel, “Hive” follows Marion, Claire and Louise, three sisters who have been living to the rhythm of their mother Alice’s joys and sorrows, and are caught up in a destructive spiral.

“Hive’s” fresh visual style will be bolstered by a modern soundtrack drawing from the up-and-coming Belgian musical scene, said the producer Jean-Yves Roubin. The hit Belgian band Blu Samu is composing a track for the end credits.

“Hive’s” key crew includes Colin Leveque, the cinematographer of Fabrice du Welz’s “Adoration,” and Lara Gasparotto, the high-profile Belgian photographer.

Hermans...

For over 15 years, Belgian director Fabrice du Welz has been thrilling and challenging audiences with his transgressive genre features like Calvaire and Alléluia. With his latest film, Adoration, he explores the coming of age of 12-year-old Paul (Thomas Gioria), who lives on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital with his mother. Paul quickly becomes infatuated with a new patient, Gloria (Fantine Harduin), and together, they run away and embark on a strange sun-kissed journey. While touched with the golden light of summer, the film probes into the darker side of first love. Love isn’t demonized, but it’s not romanticized either. For Paul, love disturbs his comfortable life and challenges the way he sees the world. As his dealings with Gloria become more difficult due...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Wallonia’s regional investment fund also supports the Smurfs’ return to their Belgian land. For its 96th session, Wallimage is supporting some hotly anticipated features, but also the little blue characters who are an integral part of Belgian heritage. Bergman Island is the first English-language film from French director Mia Hansen-Løve. It follows a couple of American filmmakers who arrive on Fårö island, in Sweden, where Ingmar Bergman lived, to each write their new film. That summer, they will lose themselves between fiction and reality at the heart of the island’s mysterious landscapes. The film will star Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth and Mia Wasikowska and is produced in France by CG Cinéma, and co-produced in Belgium by Scope Pictures. As his latest film, Adoration, comes out in France and in Belgium on 22 January 2020, Fabrice du Welz’s next project, Inexorable, set to be shot in the spring of 2020, is.

British author Evelyn Waugh once wrote that there is a kind of love that children have before they know its meaning, something sweet and innocent, full of kindness and joy without facade or self-awareness. As children grow into teenagers, what that love is and how it changes as knowledge and understanding of sexual interest desire come creeping forward. The exploration of this burgeoning love can be sweet and tender; or, if one of the couple has some problems, it could be violent and even homicidal. Or at least, once it gets into the hands of Belgian auteur Fabrice du Welz. The third part of what is said to be his Ardennes trilogy (the others being Calvaire and Alleluia), Adoration follows on these with its representation...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Barcelona — Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s debut feature “The Platform” was awarded best film, and best F/X at the 52nd Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Gaztelu-Urrutia also snagged the Citizen Kane Award for an up-and-coming director and the Audience Award for best picture. The prizes come off the back of the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s Midnight Madness.

Produced by Carlos Juárez at Bilbao-based outfit Basque Films in co-production with Barcelona’s Mr. Miyagi, Gaztelu-Urrutia’s debut offers a harsh survival parable of power human relationships in a dystopic multi-floor dungeon prison. Its oft-starving dwellers handle the situation with existential and cannibalistic inclinations. The nightmarish script was co-written by successful Catalan playwright David Desola (“Warehoused”) and Pedro Rivero, co-director of Gkids U.S. pick-up “Bird Boy.”

Bilbao-born Gaztelu-Urrutia is an experienced producer at Basque Films and has directed commercials as well as two shorts. One,...

Exclusive: Fantastic Fest is set to honor legendary filmmaker Takashi Miike with the Lifetime Achievement Award and a and a special screening of The Happiness of the Katakuris. In addition, the fest has revealed its final wave of programming which includes the U.S. premiere of Jeremy Clapin’s I Lost My Body which recently debuted at Cannes Critics Week and won the Cristal for Best Animated Feature and the Audience Award Première at the 2019 Annecy Int’l Animated Film Festival. Fantastic Fest kicks off September 19 and continues through September 26.

Miike, who has been featured at Fantastic Fest multiple times, has over 100 films on his resume and in addition to a screening of The Happiness of the Katakuris, the fest will feature the U.S. premiere of his film First Love which follows an aspiring boxer named Leo who discovers that he may not have long to live. He goes...