Two films from Wallonia Brussels selected at Cannes Directors' Fortnight!
The 55th edition of the Directors' Fortnight unveiled its program on Tuesday, April 18. Among the titles selected this year, two Wallonia Brussels films are featured: Claude Schmitz's "The Other Laurens" and Rosine Mbakam's "Mambar Pierrette".
Good news keeps coming for Francophone Belgian cinema! Following the selections of Baloji's Omen (Un Certain Regard) as well as Ann Sirot & Raphaël Balboni's The (Ex)perience of Love and Paloma Sermon-Daï's Il pleut dans la maison (Critics' Week), two new films will make their world premiere on the Croisette in May.
This marks the first Cannes selection for director Claude Schmitz, who will present his second feature film, The Other Laurens.
"I am very happy to present 'L'Autre Laurens' at the Directors' Fortnight... It is a wonderful opportunity to show, for the first time, this particular film which plays with the codes of crime fiction and questions the notion of genre in cinema... I am particularly grateful to the incredible team that carried this film on their shoulders..."
The Belgian director, a graduate of INSAS, began his career in the 2000s with numerous and noteworthy stage productions. In parallel with his stage creations, he directed several short films such as Le Mali (en Afrique), Rien sauf l'été, Braquer Poitiers - Jean Vigo Award - and recently for Lucie perd son cheval, which won the Grand Prize of the BRIFF National Competition in 2021.
Gabriel Laurens is a private detective. When his niece, Jade, asks him to investigate her father’s death, the detective must confronts the ghosts of his past. Gabriel finds himself caught up in a strange investigation mixing pretense, fantasy, and drug trafficking.
The film is produced by Wrong Men, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation's Center for Cinema and Audiovisual and in co-production with RTBF, Proximus and VOO and BeTV, Wallimage and with the help of the Belgian federal government's Tax Shelter. The film is sold by Best Friend Forever.
Also taking her first steps on the Croisette is Rosine Mbakam, who will present her very first feature film, Mambar Pierrette.
"For me and for my family in Cameroon, cinema was like a separate world where there were only incredible stories, embodied by incredible people. In my film, those incredible people are my family and the stories are theirs."
Rosine Mbakam grew up in Yaoundé in a popular neighborhood that nourished her filmmaker's imagination. After a stint at STV in Douala and her studies at INSAS, she founded her production company Tândor Productions. She has directed four feature-length documentaries. The New Yorker describes her as "an original filmmaker of exceptional sensitivity; one of the greatest documentary filmmakers currently in activity.
Under the rain of Douala, Mambar, resigned, empties the water in her house with the help of her children. When she arrived in her tailoring shop, the same ordeal began again. In turn, the customers parade in her shop with only one word in the mouth, the preparation of the return to school. Mambar has not yet bought anything for her children. Her days are long, her children's expectations are high, but will the rain in Douala let the sun shine on Mambar and her children?
The film is produced by Tandor Film, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation's Center for Cinema and Audiovisual, RTBF, in co-production with the Brussels Audiovisual Center.
Also worth noting are the presence of two minority co-productions: Les Meutes by Kamal Lazraq (Beluga Tree) and Le temps d'aimer by Katel Quillévéré (Frakas Productions).
Finally, several Belgian companies are involved in the production of many selected films:
- Entre chien et loup : Désert by Faouzi Bensaïdi
- Novak Prod : Conann by Bertrand Mandico
Created in 1969 by the SRF (Society of Film Directors), the Directors' Fortnight is a parallel selection of the Cannes Film Festival whose purpose is to showcase a broad spectrum of films in order to highlight the most singular and visionary practices of contemporary cinema. It has presented films and supported filmmakers who have deeply influenced contemporary cinema and contributed.
