Cinemamed, the Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival, is returning to various independent cinemas and cultural centres in the Capital Region for its 22nd edition.
Film lovers will discover around 70 productions from countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
The film festival opens on Thursday 28 November (today) and will organise screenings and debates with directors, producers and actors, as well as concerts, parties and a Mediterranean food market at venues such as Palace, Aventure and Galeries cinemas, Espace Magh, W:Halll, la Tricoterie and various cultural centres.
The central theme of this year's event – "At the crossroads: between rural exodus and return to roots" – will portray characters torn between their distance from their homeland and their deep connection with their roots.
Best productions of the year
On the agenda are an international competition, a section made of unreleased films and a selection of the best productions of the year, as well as several documentaries, short films and debates.
Boris Lijkine's L'histoire de Souleymane tells the story of an asylum seeker who has just 48 hours before an interview to obtain his papers. In Aïcha, by Mehdi M. Barsaoui, viewers are plunged into the life of the protagonist, who is trapped in a life with no prospects in the south of Tunisia and decides to disappear and reinvent herself in the country's capital.
To mark 60 years of Moroccan and Turkish immigration, a series of documentaries and dramas will focus on "the social and political realities of these two countries, as well as those experienced by the children and grandchildren of first-generation immigrants," the organisers said.
18th Cinemamed Presentation of the film ‘Pour vivre heureux’ with the film crew. Credit: Cinemad/Facebook
Additionally, 19 avant-premières will also be shown, including Diamant Brut by Agathe Riedinger and Animale by Emma Benestan, both of which received critical acclaim at the Cannes Festival, as well as Parthenope, the latest film by Paolo Sorrentino.
The eight-film Official Competition has a prize of €5,000, while the RêVolution Competition will feature eight documentaries and feature-length fiction films.
Most screenings will take place in the evening at the Cinéma Palace and Cinéma Aventure in the centre of Brussels. All other screening locations, times and accessibility can be found here.
