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Exclusive: WTFilms has unveiled a slew of deals on Fabrice du Welz’s thriller Maldoror, inspired by the 1990s case of infamous Belgian pedophile and serial killer Marc Dutroux, as the movie releases in France ahead of its theatrical launch in Belgium next week.

In Europe, the movie has sold to the Nordics (Njutafilms), German-speaking territories (Capelight Pictures), Italy (Movies Inspired), Spain (La Aventura), Poland (Velvet Soon), Cis, Baltics, Ukraine (Exponenta), and Greece (Femeway Limited).

In the rest of the world, Film Movement has taken U.S. rights while the picture has also sold to Japan (Pflug) and Latin America (California).

The Jokers Films, which also produced the movie with Belgian company Frakas, has launched Maldoror theatrically in France today while O’Brother Distribution is gearing up for its release in Belgium on January 22. Gusto Entertainment has a set an April launch for the Netherlands.

The thriller is inspired by the...

Belgium is approaching the 30th anniversary of the start of a dark chapter in its history in which pedophile Marc Dutroux abducted six young girls from June 1995 to August 1996.

Imprisoning them in the basement of his house in the former coal-mining town of Marcinelle, the convicted sex offender tortured and sexually abused his young victims, killing four of them.

Mélissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, who were just eight years old, died of starvation and dehydration, while An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, were buried alive. Sabine Dardenne, 12, and Laetitia Delhez, 14, were freed following Dutroux’s arrest in August 1996.

In a bold cinematic move, Belgian director Fabrice du Welz revisits the case in high-octane crime thriller Maldoror, which weaves in details of the real affair with the fictitious journey of a young police officer played by Anthony Bajon.

“I was about 20 when the Marc Dutroux Affair broke in Belgium,...

An immense yet slinking police procedural that slips with disturbing ease into its audiences’ subconscious, Fabrice Du Welz’s Maldoror owes a debt to many contemporary serial killer creepers to come before it but comes together as a formidable, restrained, uniquely resonant work that finds the director at the height of his powers in telling a story at once hauntingly personal and broad in scope.

In early ‘90s Belgium, impulsive young police officer Paul Chartier (Anthony Bajon) is preparing to marry his sweetheart, Gina (Alba Gaïa Bellugi) but is soon distracted when he’s tapped by his superior, Hinkel (Laurent Lucas) to participate in Maldoror – a secret operation to monitor a dangerous sex offender named Marcel Dedieu (Sergi López) and investigate the abduction of two pre-teen girls. But, as Chartier gets closer to uncovering the truth, he grows increasingly erratic and frustrated with the calcified bureaucracy of his department, jeopardizing...

French-speaking Belgium hit a high-water mark at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with 11 Belgian co-productions claiming accolades and acclaim across the Croisette. Alongside Critics’ Week opener “Ghost Trail” and the Cannes jury and best actress prize-winner “Emilia Pérez,” eight of those co-productions received support from Belgium’s Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles, while just as many shared a proud Francophone voice.

At Venice, industry delegates built on that robust show of force, touting home-grown projects like Fabrice Du Welz’s police thriller “Maldoror” and co-productions like Aude Léa Rapin’s sci-fi drama “Planet B” and Marie Losier’s music doc “Peaches Goes Bananas,” while young producers took to the Lido to forge new partnerships beyond the traditional mold.

“We’re trying to diversify as much as possible,” says French-speaking Belgium’s Cinema and Audiovisual Center director Jeanne Brunfaut. “Though we tend to partner with [other Francophone countries], we want to encourage our producers to look further afield,...

We’re just about five weeks away from the opening of the 81st Venice International Film Festival, the oldest such celebration of international cinema and the official kickoff to awards season in earnest. A gondola loaded with news about this year’s titles washed up on our shores this morning, and this year’s competition slate is packed.

It’s no surprise that Todd Phillips will bring his “Joker” sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” back to the late-summer Italian event. The first dark comic book film won the top prize there in 2019, slapping a huge international halo on it released to the public, eventually netting Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar, as well as a Best Original Score trophy for Hildur Guðnadóttir and nine other nominations, including Best Picture. The sequel, which was not a foregone conclusion when the first movie was made, but a Mack truck of Warner Bros....