Following an outstanding year at Berlinale Film Festival with eight films featured, French-speaking Belgian cinema celebrates the nomination of nine works at Cannes 2025 Festival.
This years major featured Belgian films include the Dardenne brothers' Jeunes méres, Laura Wandel's L'intérét d'Adam, Alexe Poukine's Kika, and Valery Carnoy's La danse des renards.
The minority films include Julia Ducournau's Alpha, Thierry Klifa's La femme la plus riche du monde, Diego Céspedes Le mystérieux regard du flamant rose, Déni Oumar Pitsaev's Imago, and Dorian Jespers' Loynes.
Presented by Wallonia-Brussels' Director of the centre of Cinema and Audiovisual, Jeanne Brunfaut, a squad of directors and producers shared their insights into the creation of the films. They have bright hopes for the future of Belgian cinema under the cultural policy of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which deals with French-speaking cinema in Belgium and is also known as the French Community of Belgium Government.
Credit: still from Wandel's 'L’Intérêt d’Adam'
Motherhood and masculinity on screen
The renowned Dardennes brothers Les Jeunes méres frames the lives of five teenage mothers within the bounds of a maternity home as they navigate the unknown world of raising children within socially precarious conditions.
Their 11th Cannes nominated film debuts five fresh young talents alongside famed producer Delphine Tomson. The brothers highlighted the necessity of creating representations of situations that are not in the mainstream and encouraging the emergence of a generation of new female talents.
Connected through the theme of motherhood, Belgian-born Laura Wandel's L'intérét d'Adam narrates the difficulties of a mother who finds her son hospitalised for malnutrition, refusing to leave his side despite strict court orders creating complications.
Director Alexe Poukine breaks away from her typical documentary style with Kika, the fictional account of a woman whose partner dies during her pregnancy and falls upon financial difficulties. Poukine guides audiences through an unorthodox take on motherhood as Kika wanders through uncertain times "against all odds." Through varying modes of storytelling, the directors illuminate societal struggles of motherhood front and centre.
Following in the footsteps of the Dardennes, Valery Carnoy's La danse des renards centres young actors cast from boxing centres in Paris and Belchec in his exploration of modern masculinity. An extension of Carnoy's short film Titan, a young boxer faces a near-death experience and is rescued by his best friend.
The work opens dialogues of the masculine "relationship to strength, weakness, and pain" in both a physical and emotional sense. The group of amateur actors formed a "band of friends," who would come to reshape the script with Carnoy who shared "some were funnier than me."
'More ambitious films in terms of gender'
Featuring a panel of three female directors and five international directors, the Brussels-Wallonia Federation's Audiovisual and Media Centre of Cinema emphasised the cruciality of supporting the works of marginalised voices.
Taking notes from France's Cinéma du Monde, Brunfaut expressed the institution's pride in supporting films from around the world, particularly in which Belgian creatives are involved.
Whilst recognising growing numbers of female-directed films, Kika director Poukine suggested that it is still the beginning of a long fight for equality within the sector for "as long as women are not allowed to be as banal as men."
On the topic of her shift in direction from documentary to narrative filmmaking, the director showed gratitude to Wallonie-Bruxelles, crediting the presence of more female-directed ambitious films to the increased financial aid.
As Belgian film viewing stats continue to accelerate, with Cineuropa noting a 157% rise in Belgium for French language Belgian films, more funding is being allocated towards the production of top-quality cinema involving a diverse range of Belgian talent. This years Cannes feature will act as a bolster, giving the films a "boost of visibility" and paving the path for contemporary Belgian cinema on the world stage.
