07/10/2002 - Philosopher, musician and, since 1965 also filmmaker André Delvaux dies at the age of 76. His films starred actors like Vittorio Gassman, Fanny Ardant, Anouk Aimée and Yves Montand

The death of the “founding father” of Belgian cinema, André Delvaux, was announced on the last day of the French-language film Festival of Namur. Delvaux, a philosopher, musician and filmmaker with nine films to his credit died in Valencia at the age of 76. He contributed to putting Belgian cinema on the world map with his 1965 directorial debut entitled L’homme au crâne rasé, although he began his career by playing the piano to accompany the screening of silent films at the Museum of Film in Brussels.
Delvaux was fascinated by the mysteries that seemingly ordinary daily life conceal, although he maintained a realistic point of view in his work that many described as “magical” and an extension of the Belgian school of surrealism that Delvaux said was “an esthetic and philosophical game with elements of reality.” His films include Una sera, un treno (1968) starring Yves Montand and Anouk Aimée, Donna tra cane e lupo (1979) starring Marie-Christine Barrault, Benvenuta (1983) starring Vittorio Gassman and Fanny Ardant and L’Opera al nero (1988) starring Gian Maria Volonté. He also directed numerous documentaries for television including two outstanding ones dedicated respectively to Federico Fellini and Polish cinema.
Delvaux was a professor at Insas and the role model and mentor to an entire generation of Belgian filmmakers including Jaco Van Dormael. Delvaux was also the deputy president of the Belgian Film Library where his energetic and enthusiastic defence of this important collection (he even made a documentary about the archive in 1989 entitled 1001 Films) will never be forgotten. In March of this year Delvaux was the subject of a retrospective at the Nordic Film Festival of Rouen.

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