It's time to go back to school in Belgium, and with the start of a new academic year comes a variety of exciting new releases at the cinema.
Not sure what to watch? No need to worry: The Brussels Times has selected some of the best films and documentaries that cinephiles and curious cinema-goers should alike should not miss this September.
New releases
'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' (2024), Cinema Galeries, from 11 September
The second instalment of Tim Burton's 'Beetlejuice' franchise is finally making its way to the big screen, almost four decades on from the 1988 classic.
After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's (Winona Ryder) life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife.
Find more information here.
Golden oldies
'Leaving Las Vegas' (1995), Cineflagey, various dates
Directed by Mike Figgis, this touching American drama follows Hollywood screenwriter Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage), whose alcoholism leads him to lose his job and his family.
Ben journeys to Las Vegas with the aim of drinking himself to death. But when he arrives, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with sex worker Sera (Elisabeth Shue) and moves in with her. Depicted in a world full of sorrows and misdeeds, the pair latch onto each other and never let go.
Find more information here.
Documentaries
'Soundtrack to a Coup d'État' (2024), Cinema Vendôme, from 11 September
Playing out like the jazziest history lesson imaginable, this award-winning documentary film shines a light on a global spiderweb of geopolitical intrigues. It cuts deep into the blood-and-rubber ties between Belgium and Congo and reveals Belgium's role in the plot to assassinate Congo's first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba.
With a heavy dose of irony, Belgian director Johan Grimonprez presents the theatre of world politics of the 1960s as a grand spectacle – complete with flashy title cards and theatrical trumpets. But its plot is deadly serious. "Everyone thinks murder as a weapon is typically CIA, but Belgium can do it just as well."
Find more information here.
'The Roller, the Life, the Fight' (2024), Cinema Galeries, from 18 September
Co-directed by Hazem Alqaddi and Elettra Bisogno, this documentary film follows Alqaddi's story from Palestine to Belgium. After graduating from the UNRWA School in Rafah, Alqaddi came to Brussels in 2018 in search of a new life outside a besieged Gaza.
A passionate rollerblader, kitemaker, chef and storyteller, Alqaddi turned his attention to filmmaking in 2019 and met Bisogno, who came to Brussels from Italy to study documentary film. With a desire to connect with people, the pair use the camera as a tool to tell each other's stories of migration and displacement.
Find more information here.
Other languages
'La nuit se traîne', Cineflagey, various dates
Belgian director Michiel Blanchart's first feature film is considered one of the highlights of the autumn season. It takes viewers on a breathless chase between a young locksmith (French actor Jonathan Feltre) who opens the wrong door one night on a gang of ruthless criminals.
The story is set over the course of a night amid a Black Lives Matter protest in Brussels, and frames the city in a way that has rarely been shown on screen before. From the European quarter and the Marolles to a metro station in Molenbeek, Blanchart wanted to "paint an authentic portrait of Brussels, but larger than life."
Find more information here.
'Les Fantômes' (2024), Cinema Galeries, various dates
Hamid (Adam Bessa) is a member of a secret organisation that tracks down Syrian war criminals hiding in Europe. His mission leads him to Strasbourg, France, on the trail of his former tormentor. Will Hamid dare to confront him, now that the pressure, doubts and spirit of vengeance have taken hold of him?
On 11 September, Cinéma Galeries will host a special screening followed by a Q&A, with speakers Benjamin Peltier, coordinator for Syria at Amnesty International Belgique Francophone, and Vaios Koutroulis, ULB professor of international law and deputy director of the Centre de droit international. The discussion will be moderated by Simone Susskind, a leading figure in the field of human rights and intercultural dialogue.
Find more information here.
'Emilia Pérez' (2024), Cinema Aventure and Cineflagey, various dates
This French musical crime comedy follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an underrated and disgruntled lawyer working for a large law firm. Rita is more interested in getting criminals out of jail than bringing them to justice, however, so she is hired by the leader of a criminal organisation.
She is tasked with assisting an escaped Mexican cartel kingpin, Juan 'Manitas' Del Monte (played by trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón), in undergoing sex reassignment surgery and evading the authorities. Years after her gender-affirming surgery, the newly rechristened Emilia Pérez contacts Rita again with one more request.
Find more information here.
'Visiting Hours' (2024), Cineflagey, various dates
In this offbeat drama, Alma (Isabelle Huppert), alone in her big bourgeois townhouse, and Mina (Hafsia Herzi), a single working-class mother in another city, have organised their lives around the prison visits they make to their respective partners, who are serving time in the same penitentiary.
When the two women meet in the room outside the visiting area, an unlikely friendship begins. Both women's ulterior motives give this uneven but compelling film its tense energy.
Find more information here.
