The Belgian Wave

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

After slaving away at a small company that sells cleaning products for over 25 years, Inès (Jasmina Douieb) still hasn’t got a single raise, unlike her male colleagues who seem to effortlessly get them every year. Oh well, Inès isn’t one to complain easily, after all she’s devoted and over the years has obtained a… Continue reading EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

TOTEM

As a boy scout, you learn many things: how to lead and work together as a group, how to survive in the wild using only a crate of milk and a screwdriver (yes, McGuyver was also a boy scout), how to sing corny anthems by heart and, if you’re a bit lucky, how to make… Continue reading TOTEM

FREAKS OUT

1943. While Nazi troops occupy Italy, civilians desperately try to flee the country by the thousands. Among them, Matilde, Cencio, Fulvio and Mario, circus creatures, fairground freaks who are henceforth without a job and without their cherished ringmaster Israël, who left trying to negotiate one-way tickets to the US for the group. In these troubles… Continue reading FREAKS OUT

THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar

THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar (whose THE FOREST already delighted us at the BIFFF 2013) paints a desolately grim picture of Spain around the early 80’s. The odd poster bearing the likeness of recently instated King Juan Carlos may occasionally appear in the background. And once or twice there’s even mention of the peculiarly new… Continue reading THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar

LOGGER

It’s the story of a lumberjack who just wanted to mind his own business… One morning, or one afternoon – seeing as we’re not boy and girl scouts here, we’re never quite sure in a forest – he bumps into something that his eyes will never forget: a brutally mutilated body. Flesh, blood, guts, fragments… Continue reading LOGGER

KIPKAP

Joe isn’t hard to please; fries swamped in ketchup, a fresh pint and his mates is all he needs to be happy. But he’s also got one peculiar passion… Ever since the The Belgian Wave of UFO observations in the 80’s, Joe has been obsessed and convinced that aliens have infiltrated every layer of society.… Continue reading KIPKAP

GRAVIDAM

Rose and Antoine, a loving though fragile young couple, are “expecting” as the apostles of the First Commandment (“Be Fruitful and Multiply”) tend to say. They’re also expecting that this lil’ chunk of love will magically heal all the festering family wounds and more importantly will calm down the overzealous mother-in-law who showers them with… Continue reading GRAVIDAM

RIVER

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and ketamine. An epic mix capable of knocking a rhino off its paws, but it’s also a potentially lethal cocktail that sends River to the emergency room after his best buddy Donny committed suicide. But like a Phoenix rising after a thorough stomach pump, River is alive and well! Not quite… Continue reading RIVER

MEGALOMANIAC

Back in the 90’s, the quiet Belgian town of Mons – our very own the Shire, in a way – was shook to the bone by a murder spree that left five women chopped up and scattered across the city in garbage bags. Arms, legs, torso, skull… Except for a trail of blood, the police… Continue reading MEGALOMANIAC

VESPER

Despite endless warnings by scientists and BIFFF-ers alike, all pathetic attempts to save our planet have failed. Our ecosystem has collapsed and along with it, society’s structures. Many people perished, the powerful fled to walled-in, high-tech Citadels that artificially hold up an illusion of civilization. The rest of humanity linger like wild animals in a… Continue reading VESPER

RITUAL

Kiki is a police diver. You can’t imagine all the stuff she brought back to the surface when diving in Molenbeeck’s canal: corpses, weapons, scooters… but never before a severed hand! After an autopsy, the hand appears to have been chopped off while the victim was (still) alive. A reckoning in the drug world? That’s… Continue reading RITUAL

LITTLE VAMPIRE

If three months of lockdown in your house seemed like a mighty long time to you, what must Little Vampire be thinking? He’s been 10 years old for 300 years and has never left his mansion. Okay, sure, he lives in an awesome haunted house where he has crazy adventures with a couple of fun-loving… Continue reading LITTLE VAMPIRE

THE GHASTLY BROTHERS

Young Lilith has just arrived at Saint-Raimi boarding school and has no trouble making new friends. But soon she realizes that many of the boarders are haunted by mysterious dark shadows. She alarms the direction, but they don’t take her seriously. So she asks the help of the Brother Schimm, professional ghostbusters who usually just… Continue reading THE GHASTLY BROTHERS

MOLOSS

A sixty-year-old who has always obediently followed the rules, suffers an existential burnout. He has always done his part and, in his own modest way, has worked for a better society. But that society has hit rock bottom and our former good Samaritan is no longer in the mood for concessions. Moloss is his name… Continue reading MOLOSS

The figures of the last decade don’t lie. The conclusion is loud and clear and obvious to all. There’s a tsunami of Belgian genre cinema! More than 30 films supported by Wallimage, 11 by the VAF, more than 20 films supported by Screen. Brussels, 23 by Screen Flanders or even 25 feature films that have… Continue reading The Belgian Wave