05/10/2023 - The Flanders Audiovisual Fund will shine a light on the wonderful vitality of the Flemish audiovisual sector, showcasing the main projects underway and yet to come

Flanders Image, the promotion arm of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), is inviting international broadcasting professionals to meet talent from the Flemish audiovisual industry on 9 and 10 October at the CONNEXT event, by way of a series of meetings, screenings and conferences highlighting the effervescence of the sector, which will notably be carried by a few headlining names, such as Fien Troch, whose most recent film Holly [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fien Troch
film profile] was well-received in Venice, and Lukas Dhont, who was awarded the Grand Prize in Cannes by way of Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eden Dambrine
interview: Lukas Dhont
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] and who has been appointed guest curator of a brand-new initiative, The Future Five, which will look to present five young emerging talents of Flemish cinema.

But CONNEXT is first and foremost a selection of projects and works in progress which are only just finished or underway. Of the 71 titles on offer, 57 will be presented live or screened in Anvers, with a special emphasis placed on emerging directors and newcomers.

When it comes to screenings, guests will get to discover works like Skunk [+see also:
film review
interview: Thibaud Dooms
film profile], the new movie by Koen Mortier (Ex-Drummer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Koen Mortier
film profile]), and J’aime la vie, which is Mathias Sercu’s debut feature film, as well as a number of documentaries and series along the lines of The Cinderella Murder by Kaat Beels, who directed Hotel Beau Séjour.

In terms of Works in Progress, professionals will get to attend the presentation of The Weeping Walk (read news), which is the first feature film by the novelist turned filmmaker Dimitri Verhulst (notably known for his books The Misfortunates, successfully adapted by Felix Van Groeningen, and Monologue of Someone Who Got Used to Talking to Herself, adapted by the afore-mentioned Koen Mortier).

The CONNEXT pitching sessions won’t be lacking in beautiful people either. Adil & Bilall (whose most recent movie Rebel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fal…
film profile], presented in a Special Screening in Cannes last year, is being released right now in the USA) will be in attendance, presenting their new Belgian project Gangstas, which is the hotly anticipated sequel to their Belgian box-office champion Gangsta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fal…
interview: Matteo Simoni
film profile]. There’s also an intriguing project by Flemish filmmaker Peter Krüger, on the agenda, who notably authored the documentary N - The Madness of Reason [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and who’s joining forces with acclaimed Nigerian writer Ben Okri to co-write The Age of Magic, an adaptation of the latter’s novel of the same name. On the subject of series, meanwhile, the second season of the hit production Roomies, written and directed by Kato De Boeck and Flo Van Deuren, will be on everybody’s lips.

The full list of selected projects can be found here.

When it comes to awards, two prizes are set to be handed out during the event: the CONNEXT Perfect Pitch Award and the CONNEXT Work In Progress Award. Participants will also be invited to take part in a conference – followed by a round table - during which Hannah Walsh, a director of research at Ampere Analysis specialising in media data, research and analysis, will present a study on the end of the golden age of TV production and what this means for the smaller regions.

(Translated from French)