Baloji awarded at the Cannes Film Festival!
Baloji's first feature film, "Omen" receives the New Voice Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes!
Screened as a world premiere, Baloji's debut feature film captivated the jury of Un Certain Regard, which included our compatriot Emilie Dequenne, as well as Davy Chou, Paula Beer, and Alice Winocour this year. The jury was presided over by American actor John C. Reilly.
The film received enthusiastic acclaim during its screening last Monday and was greeted with a long-standing ovation. Baloji, a multidisciplinary artist born in the DRC, gained recognition in the early 2000s as part of the group Starflam. Since then, he has released three albums, all of which have achieved great success in Belgium and internationally. He oversees the lyrics, music, and the rich visual universe of his creations. Notably, he has directed several music videos, including Peau de chagrin - Bleu de nuit from the album 137 avenue Kaniama".
In 2018, he directed his first short film, Kaniama Show, which was presented at numerous festivals and notably won the Special Jury Prize at FIFF Namur. It was followed a few months later by Zombies, selected at festivals such as Rotterdam, BFI, and Oberhausen. He also appeared in front of the camera in Frederike Migom's Binti, which earned him a nomination for the Magritte Award for Best Male Newcomer.
With Omen filmed between Belgium and the Congo, Baloji embarked on the adventure of a feature film. The cast includes Belgian actors Marc Zinga and Lucie Debay, as well as Eliane Umuhire and Yves-Marina Gnahoua.
Omenis an ensemble film about four people accused of being witches and sorcerers. Despite their misfortune they find the way to guide each other away from their socially imposed destinies and into the phantasmagoria of Africa
Omen is produced by Wrong Men, with the support of the Centre du Cinéma de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, New Dawn, the participation of screen.brussels, the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, and co-produced with RTBF, Proximus, and VOO & BeTv. The film is sold internationally by Memento International and distributed in Belgium by Imagine Film Distribution.
Un Certain Regard is part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. Established in 1978, it highlights original and daring works by emerging filmmakers. As a reminder, on Wednesday, May 24, Paloma Sermon Daï's debut feature film, It's raining in the house, was celebrated: the film won the French Touch Award at the Critics' Week, another parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is produced by Michigan Films, with the support of the Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, in co-production with WIP (Wallonie Image Production), RTBF (Belgian Television), Proximus, Shelter Prod, Taxshelter.be, ING, and the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government. It is worth noting that this film was made possible thanks to the support for light productions initiated by the Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
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