18/06/2008

There are an equal number of Belgian and US releases on this week’s line-up. Three Belgian co-productions are hitting screens alongside three US titles, as well as Lucia Cedron’s Argentinean film Lamb of God.

Released in France on June 4, JCVD [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is being launched on Belgian screens. This French/Belgian/Luxembourg co-production (Gaumont, Artémis Productions and Samsa Films) – which enjoyed moderate success in its first week in French theatres – is being released on 13 screens in French-speaking Belgium.

All eyes will be on two "marginal" films. Le Prince de ce monde (“The Prince of this World”), by Manuel Gomez (director and plastic artist who began his career in animated film), will be showing in four multiplexes in French-speaking Belgium. Produced by Monkey Productions and distributed by Imagine, the film’s large print run should compensate for the unenthusiastic critical reception received by this fantasy title with a Belgian touch.

At a time when film professionals in Brussels are demanding the same political and financial backing as their Walloon colleagues – who have been generously supported by Wallimage for the last seven years – Anne Lévy-Morelle focuses her camera on this city which is "ugly but with a certain splendour" in her documentary The Cradle of the Little Pisser. Released by Cinéart, the film was produced by Belgian company 7ia and received backing from the Film and Audiovisual Centre of the French Community of Belgium, the Vlaams Audiovisual Fund, RTBF and Arte.

All these films stand to benefit from the “fête du cinema” in Wallonia, which will take place from June 23-24 and should enable Bouli Lanners’ Eldorado [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] to boost its success at the box office, where it has got off to a good start. The Cannes effect wasn’t long in manifesting itself. Encouraged by the 10,000 admissions garnered in its first week (it was released on June 4), BFD launched the film on four more screens last week.

As well as these impressive results, the film boasts an excellent per-screen average. Haut et court are today releasing Eldorado in France, on 54 screens.

(Translated from French)