A video of a spectacular car crash in Brussels has been circulating on social media for several days. While the images are being shared as if it is real, it actually concerns footage from the new Brussels film 'La nuit se traîne.'
The video shows a red car flying in the air over another vehicle before landing with a bang. It has nearly 1.5 million views on TikTok and over 14,000 on X (formerly Twitter).
In the comments, people have described the accident as a typical scene for Belgium's capital city. "A calm night in Brussels," the person who shared the video on TikTok captioned it. "Normal day in Brussels," some commented. "This guy thought he was in a video game," another said.
Pov : a calm night in #Brussels pic.twitter.com/LXyUFlJkyV
— RadioBruxHell (@RadioBruxHell) August 31, 2024
However, not everyone is convinced that the video showed a real accident. Some thought it might be from the new 'Patser' film by Brussels director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, but press officer Valerie Depreeuw confirmed to VRT that the video shows shootings for the new Brussels film 'La nuit se traîne' directed by Michiel Blanchart.
"This film was shot last year between March and May in Brussels, so it is not recent footage," she said. The film is out in Belgian cinemas from today (Wednesday). "So this is not an advertising stunt by any means, but it is nice that others apparently do that for us."
Two days before the video went viral on TikTok and X, the footage was posted on Instagram. The owner of the account was present while the scene was shot, and also mentions that in the caption of the post. Other accounts likely copied the footage without adding the proper context.
The scene of the chase, which ends in a crash, can also be seen in the film's trailer (at around 01:11).
What is the film about?
'La nuit se traîne' ('Night Call') is the first feature film by Belgian director Michiel Blanchart and 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 show the city as it really is.
He wanted to "paint an authentic portrait of Brussels, but larger than life," he told De Morgen. "I wanted to show that you could do many things there, cinematographically speaking, just as you can in other big cities such as Paris or New York. Brussels is a real character in this film, with its own personality."
