12/07/2006

Hungarian cinema is in full force and taking Belgium by storm. After joint prizes for Taxidermia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Fresh Air [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] at the Brussels European Film Festival (see news), the very beautiful second feature by Kornél Mundruczó, Johanna [+see also:
trailer
film profile], is being released by Beeck Turtle on Belgian screens this week.

After a debut feature that won a Silver Leopard at Locarno in 2002 (Pleasant Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Johanna, his second film presented in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes in 2004 (see article and interview with Viktòria Petrànyi, co-scriptwriter of film), Mundruczó is currently preparing his third film, Delta (see news), which is being produced by French outfit The Coproduction Office, who are already handling international sales of Johanna.

This week’s nine releases feature three other European films, including two French comedies: Cheating Love by Ivan Calbérac, released by Kinepolis Film Distribution and April in Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Gérald Hustache-Mathieu’s directorial debut released by Cinéart, starring an array of young, talented French actors such as Sophie Quinton, Clément Sibony and Nicolas Duvauchelle.

This week’s third European release is Eleven Men Out, the third feature by Robert Douglas. The film, about the coming out of a professional footballer, was co-produced by Iceland’s Icelandic Filmcompany, Finland’s Solar Films and UK outfit Film and Music Entertainment- F&ME. Eleven Men Out is being released in Belgium by A-Film.

Meanwhile, a retrospective entitled Un’estate italiana, organised by Brussels’ Cinémathèque Royale, kicks off today and continues until the end of July. Audiences will have the chance to discover Italian masterpieces, such as Pasolini’s Theorem, Accattone and Medea; and 1900, the monumental fresco by Bernardo Bertolucci, along with his ever-caustic film Last Tango in Paris.

Also lined up are three films starring the legendary Marcello Mastroianni: A Special Day by Ettore Scola, Everybody’s Fine by Giuseppe Tornatore and the Fellini masterpiece 8½.

(Translated from French)