Two belgian films won an award at the Sundance Film Festival

Felix van Groeningen won directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival for Belgica. The film was shot by a SBC member, Ruben Impens. It’s the first time that a belgian film won an important award at the Sundance.

Synopsis : Belgica is the story of two brothers: charismatic and temperamental Frank—a husband, father, and an incurable womanizer—and his ambitious-but-green, one-eyed younger brother Jo, who owns a dive bar called Belgica. When Frank helps Belgica become the place to be for great music, beautiful people, and debauched fun, the brothers become business partners to expand the bar. Belgica quickly becomes bigger and better, and the brothers seem to have discovered the formula for success—until they learn that running a business on this scale is more complicated than they realized, and their relationship and personal lives suffer.

Principal cast : Hélène Devos, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Tom Vermeir, Stef Aerts

Running time : 127’

Language : Flemish, Dutch

Production Companies : Menuet Producties, Pyramide Productions, Topkapi Films

Belgian release date : 2/03/16

Belgian filmmaker and photographer Pieter-Jan De Pue won World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography with The Land of the Enlightened.

Synopsis : A gang of Afghan kids from the Kuchi tribe dig out old Soviet mines and sell the explosives to children working in a lapis lazuli mine. When not dreaming of the time when American troops finally withdraw from their land, another gang of children keeps tight control on the caravans smuggling the blue gemstones through the arid mountains of Pamir.

Running time : 87′

Language : English and Russian/Farsi/Pashtu/Uzbek/Waghi/Khyrgyz

Production Companies : SAVAGE FILM

Tentative release date : March 2016

You can find an interesting interview of Pieter-Jan De Pue in the web magazine Filmaker : http://filmmakermagazine.com/97118-we-got-attacked-by-the-taliban-pieter-jan-de-pue-on-sundance-doc-the-land-of-the-enlightened/#.VrMw71L5iWc