200+ Films to be Shown
Free screenings at Tour & Taxis, Kinepolis, Cinema Galeries and Cinema Ritcs
Brussels, January 13, 2022 - Brussels Independent Film Festival announces the film lineup for its 2022 edition. The full lineup will feature numerous World, International and European Premieres. In total, Brussels Independent Film Festival will show 208 features and shorts from 45 countries including narrative features, documentary features, narrative shorts, documentary shorts, animation and experimental films. On February 6th, the festival will begin its in-person screenings at Tour & Taxis at 1pm, with the feature narrative film In Ashes (Norway) by Kjetil Engh Aasen. At 2pm, The Rabbit Holes section of the festival will be launched at Cinema Galeries.
SCHEDULE
This year's edition will be a double one, screening both the 2021 and 2022 selected films. As the 2021 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19 we decided to invest in a double edition.
Over the course of the 10-day festival, Brussels Independent Film Festival will present more than 200 films, 50 film programs at Tour & Taxis, Kinepolis, Cinema Ritcs and Cinema Galeries. To find out the schedule and to reserve (free) tickets, check www.brusselsfilmfestival.org.
HIGHLIGHTS
It’s difficult to just highlight a couple of films out of the more than 200 selected films. An attempt:
Murmur (Canada) by Heather Young
Donna has recently been convicted of “Driving While Impaired” and is ordered to perform community service at the local animal shelter. When an elderly dog is scheduled to be euthanized, Donna decides to take the dog home and quickly realizes his companionship can ease her loneliness. In a futile attempt to fill the emptiness she feels, Donna begins to take home more and more animals and she is soon in over her head. Running time: 01:25:00.
Was awarded as ‘Best Narrative Feature Film’ (Brussels Independent FF 2021), ‘Grand Jury Prize’ at Slamdance Film Festival 2020, selected at Toronto International Film Festival.
Screening on Wednesday February 16 at 19:30 in Cinema Ritcs / Free entry
Ala Kachuu - Take and Run (Switzerland) by Maria Brendle
Sezim (19) wants to fulfil her dream of studying in the Kyrgyz capital when she gets kidnapped by a group of young men and taken to the hinterland. There she’s forced to marry a stranger. If she refuses the marriage, she is threatened with social stigmatization and exclusion. Torn between her desire for freedom and the constraints of Kyrgyz culture, Sezim desperately seeks for a way out. Running time: 00:38:26.
Was awarded as ‘Best Narrative Short Film’ (Brussels Independent FF 2021), named ‘Film of the Year’ by The Producer’s Night Los Angeles (2021) and is shortlisted for the 94th Oscars.
Screening on Sunday February 6 at 17:00 in The Cinema @ Tour & Taxis / Free entry
Born To Be (U.S.A.) By Tania Cypriano
'Born To Be' follows the work of Dr. Jess Ting at the groundbreaking Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City—where, for the first time ever, all transgender and gender non-conforming people have access to quality transition-related health and surgical care.With extraordinary access, this feature-length documentary takes an intimate look at how one doctor’s work impacts the lives of his patients as well as how his journey from renowned plastic surgeon to pioneering gender-affirming surgeon has led to his own transformation. Running time: 01:32:30.
Screening on Saturday February 12 at 17:30 in The Cinema @ Tour & Taxis / Free entry
The Dress (Poland) by Tadeusz Łysiak
Lust, sexuality and physicality. These are the deepest desires virgin Julia suppresses while working at a wayside motel. That is until she crosses paths with a handsome truck driver, who soon becomes the object of her fantasies... Running time: 00:29:59
Nominated as ‘Best Narrative Short Film’ (Brussels Independent FF 2022) and is shortlisted for the 94th Oscars.
Screening on Friday February 11 at 22:00 in Kinepolis / Free entry
THE RABBIT HOLES
The Brussels Independent Film Festival will also once again present its special section, 'The Rabbit Holes'. Join us down a cinematic rabbit hole of offbeat, weird, wonderful, poetic, surreal or abstract films. The vaulted rooms of the underground exhibition hall at Cinema Galeries will serve as the setting for the weeklong continuous screenings of over 90 carefully selected works of our official selection, on 4 different screens. You can visit for free from 6-13 February, every day between 2PM-8PM. Find out more at www.brusselsfilmfestival.org/therabbitholes
EDIBLE FILM AWARDS
On Friday February 11 at 20.00 in Kinepolis, the festival will announce the 2022 Atomium Film Awards. Crowned with Belgian chocolate and thus edible medallions of the Atomium, made by 'Gault & Millau Finest Chocolatier' Wim Vyverman. After the screening audience and filmmakers can join the Filmmakers Networking Drink (hosted by CA/ST Casting Studio).
FREE ENTRY
Our screenings are always free of charge to provide opportunity for interested film goers to view up and coming, challenging, and inspiring pieces of art, encouraging students, seniors, and those in underprivileged environments to share the experience of film and cinema. We welcome film-goers, regardless of income and financial status.
CLIMATE NEUTRAL FILM EVENT
Brussels Independent Film Festival is a 'Climate Neutral Film Event', powered by Treeplan.org. By planting a total amount of 3,000 trees with Treeplan.org the festival is more than offsetting its carbon footprint.
LIMITED SEATS / COVID-19 PROOF
As we’re required to social distance, the number of seats will be limited. Reserve your free tickets:https://www.brusselsfilmfestival.org
A face mask and CST (proof of full vaccination) will be required.
ABOUT THE BRUSSELS INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
The Centre Multimedia in Brussels founded the Brussels Independent Film International Festival (Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bruxelles) in 1974, to focus explicitly on super-8 films and other technically experimental cinematic styles. Although the festival was originally devoted to more highly experimental pieces, it expanded to include many different types of independent offerings.
During its original thirty-eight year run, the festival shone a much needed a spotlight on different, small national cinemas (for example, Lebanon in 2012 and Egypt in 2009). It ran a special competition for films by and for the deaf (from 1991 until 2012) as well and hosted national and international award competitions each year. It also created a program for young adults interested in making movies. The festival has hosted many noteworthy filmmakers: Pedro Almodóvar (All About my Mother, Talk to Her), François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women), and Nanni Moretti (The Caiman). Unfortunately, in its original incarnation, the festival came to an end in 2012.
Inspired by that original movement, the revived Brussels Independent Film Festival continues to emphasize lesser known, vanguard cinematic works and further its tradition of galvanizing budding talent. Most importantly, the Brussels Independent Film Festival creates a space for unique visionaries and voices. True to its history, the festival screens films of both novices and veterans —with medium and low budgets— from all over the globe. The festival’s goal is to create a warm, open atmosphere in which filmmakers, fans, critics, and producers can watch the films of emerging talents, explore new cinematic techniques and styles, and award cinematic excellence.
The Brussels Independent Film Festival aims to create an intimate atmosphere in which to revel in the beauty and wonder of the cinema with like-minded cineastes from all over the globe.
THE BIGGER SCREEN
Brussels Independent Film Festival is a proud partner of The Bigger Screen, an international organization that aims to make film as an art form more accessible and more inclusive. We support their different programs on both sides of the screen: behind the screen, encouraging and supporting filmmakers in their quest to spread their work through grants and opportunity, as well as in front of the screen, by welcoming audiences to enjoy this art form, no matter what their social or financial status is. A short overview:
Connecting Cultures Program: Each year, The Bigger Screen selects ten countries and grants filmmakers from those areas the ability to submit their work free of charge to partner festivals all over the world. This opens the door of film exposure to those who may not otherwise be able to enter. As we support inclusivity and shareable films, this program exemplifies our mission.
Local Filmmakers Program: We understand that the cost of making a film can be taxing, so to encourage rising talent, we waive the festival submission fee to local talent. With numerous worldwide locations for festivals, this provides great opportunity for filmmakers around the world to enter the international film scene. This opportunity opens the world of film. Think global, act local, right?
The Tarkovski Grant: All selected filmmakers will receive The Tarkovski Grant, a film festival submission fee waiver package with an average value of about $250. This not only saves you a lot of money, but it also recognizes your work as something to watch for during the selection procedure, making a selection with another partner film festival more likely - but of course, never guaranteed. The Tarkovski Grant supports hundreds of filmmakers each year in their challenging journeys as independent filmmakers, by promoting existing films, no matter the genre, style or length.
留言