The holiday season rhymes with... Mediterranean, at least in the Brussels film scene. For its 24th edition, the Cinemamed Festival is back to spice up Brussels cinemas. It's a not-to-be-missed opportunity to discover quality films rooted in the Mediterranean landscape and to meet personalities, share ideas and debate, not to mention concerts and convivial events. Screenings take place mainly at the Cinéma Palace and Cinéma Aventure, with more details on the cinemamed website.
And, as always, you'll have the chance to (re)discover many of the projects supported by screen.brussels, creatively crafted by our Brussels-based audiovisual talents! Take a look at the line-up below.
BXL
Nothing less than the opening of the Cinemamed Festival honours Brussels cinema - right down to its title. BXL is a film by Monir Aït Hamou and Ish Aït Hamou, inspired by their own childhood: Tarek, 27, an MMA hopeful, sees the opportunity to offer his mother and younger brother, Fouad, a better life by making a career in the United States. Fouad takes it in his stride, looking for his own path. To succeed in Brussels, they will have to fight the pressure that surrounds them. Are our dreams a blessing or a curse?
La vierge à l'enfant
A film by Berivan Binevsa screened in the Panorama section.
Avesta, a young Kurdish Yezidi who has escaped the hell of Daech, travels to Brussels with one thing on her mind: revenge on the man who enslaved her. Between undergoing therapy to reveal the violence she has suffered and being forced to be the mother of an unwanted child, Avesta tries to make her voice heard at all costs.
Puisque je suis née
A documentary by Jawad Rhalib presented in the rêvolution competition. For Zahira, school is a chance to make her dreams come true, to leave behind poverty and build a better life than her parents'. Zahira dreams of becoming a teacher. But dreams alone are not enough to succeed...
Les miennes
A documentary by Samira El Mouzghibati: As the youngest of five children, Samira calls her family together, camera in hand, for a rare meeting designed to ‘help us, without having to go to a shrink or an imam’. Her mother remained silent. It's not until she arrives in the village of her birth that she reveals her secrets, her regrets, her strength - and that, between love and rejection, the deeply moving bond and heritage that unites them takes shape.