Festival Premiers Plans: A Strong Presence of French-Speaking Belgian Cinema!
No fewer than six French-speaking Belgian productions are featured in the program of the 37th edition of the Festival Premiers Plans!
By focusing on discovering emerging talents in European cinema and showcasing its rich cinematic heritage, the Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers has established itself as a cultural event of great significance. Celebrated by artists and industry professionals alike, it draws an enthusiastic and curious audience while enjoying the support of numerous partners and prominent figures.
For its 37th edition, the French festival has selected Listen to the Voices by Maxime Jean-Baptiste for the Diagonales Competition. The film is produced by Twenty Nine Studio & Production, co-produced by L’Atelier Graphoui, and internationally distributed by MoreThan Films. It was created in the framework of SoundImageCulture. This debut feature by Maxime Jean-Baptiste had its world premiere at Locarno 2024, where it won two awards.
Melrick is a troubled young boy spending his summer in Guyana with his grandmother to escape his tumultuous daily life in Stains, France. At the end of his stay, he plays the drum to honor the memory of his late uncle, Lucas Diomar, who died under tragic circumstances. Despite a wave of murders of young men shaking the news, Melrick becomes aware of his place in a family shattered by an irreparable loss.
In the animation category, Mealitancy by Marie Royer and Zinia Scorier, produced by Zorobabel, has been selected for the Animated Plans Competition.
Through audio recordings taken in the field and poetic moving images, the film portrays activists who use food as a tool in their anti-consumerist struggle.
Also competing in the Animated PlansCompetition is Under my window, the mud by Violette Delvoye, a short film produced by OZÙ Productions.
It’s a gloomy Sunday in the small flat where 14-year-old Emma lives with her mother Hélène. Full of rejection and resentment towards Hélène, Emma projects the image of the ideal mother onto her other mother, who lives far away and whom she sees very little of. But an argument with Hélène forces Emma to question this reassuring duality… As it forces Hélène to face up to her own contradictions. They find themselves thrown into a confrontation of feelings that they are not (or no longer) used to, and where they awkwardly begin to search for a common path.
Finally, Sparrows by Rémi Durin, produced by La Boîte,... Productions, is included in the French festival's Chenaplans Competition.
In a Buddhist temple, young monks begin their meditation when the master arrives. One of the children is distracted by a sparrow and follows the bird outside the monastery. Here begins a walk off the beaten paths that goes to the tour of his lifetime. When he has become an old monk, he returns back to the temple where young monks are waiting for him. One of them is distracted by a sparrow.
In the framework of the Ateliers d’Angers, there is also a Special Screening of Un bon garçon by Paul Vincent de Lestrade (Need Productions) and Je suis rentrée by Valentine Lapière (Roue Libre Production). The Ateliers aim to support the development of residents’ first feature films. Paul Vincent de Lestrade’s project is titled Helter Skelter (Need Productions), while Valentine Lapière’s project is titled Passer l’hiver and is produced by Roue Libre Production.
Lastly, notable French-speaking Belgian co-productions include Vermiglio by Maura Delpero (Versus production, European Feature Film Competition), Julie Keeps Quiet by Leonardo Van Dijl (Les Films du Fleuve, Previews), and Across the Sea by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Tarantula, Previews).
The 37th edition of the festival will take place in Angers from January 18 to 26, 2025.
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