News

‘Girl’ and ’Close’ director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five.

Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from the region’s creatives including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.

Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.

Scroll down for...

‘Girl’ and ’Close’ director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five.

Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from regional filmmakers including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.

Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.

Scroll down for line-ups

Among...

Red Light is a European crime drama split between Belgium and the Netherlands, starring Carice Van Houten, Maaike Neuville and Halina Reijn (Black Book). Set in the sex clubs and brothels of Amsterdam and Antwerp, the series follows their characters Sylvia Steenhuyzen, Evi Vercruyssen and Esther Vinkel as their lives become entwined in the violence of the sex industry.

The series kick of with Detective Evi Vercruyssen (Neuville) being assigned the case of a murdered prostitute. The woman had worked in a club run by Sylvia (Van Houten) and her abusive lover Ingmar (Geert Van Rampelberg). Meanwhile, in the immediate aftermath of her father's death, Esther's (Reijn) husband goes missing. This has something to do with the club.

Esther is an opera singer with an aristocratic heritage, Evi is working class police and Sylvia is a prostitute and pimp. Despite their very different backgrounds, Red Light...

Swedish series was among 10 series competing in the third edition of the festival.

Swedish drama Partisan has clinched the top best series prize at the third edition of TV festival Canneseries, which ran Oct 9 to 14 as a hybrid event online and physically in its host city of Cannes.

Produced by Warner Brothers for Nordic Entertainment Group’s streaming service Viaplay, the show unfolds against the backdrop of an idyllic gated community in Sweden. Outwardly, it seems to live off its successful organic farming operation but a newcomer to the community discovers all is not as it seems.

In a rare...

Thriller series “Red Light” world premieres Sunday as part of the competition section of Canneseries. Variety spoke to its stars and co-creators Halina Reijn and Carice van Houten, and writer Esther Gerritsen.

In the show, Van Houten, who played Melisandre in “Game of Thrones,” plays Sylvia, a brothel madam in Antwerp’s red light district. Reijn is opera singer Esther, and Maaike Neuville plays Evi, a woman struggling to be both a good mother and a detective solving brutal crimes.

The three women get caught up in the world of human trafficking and prostitution when Esther’s husband – a philosophy professor – disappears. From completely different backgrounds the lives of these women intertwine and they find out they need each other to get out of the difficult situations they’re trapped in.

The show is written by Gerritsen, alongside Christophe Dirickx, Frank Ketelaar and Reijn. The directors are Wouter Bouvijn and Anke Blondé.

Stars: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon, Clara Cleymans, Annick Christiaens, Eric Godon, Joshua Rubin, Taeke Nicolaï, Tom Audenaert | Written by Lars Damoiseaux, Eveline Hagenbeek | Directed by Lars Damoiseaux

Heading into surgery is stressful enough, but Alison (Maaike Neuville) has no idea what awaits her when she arrives at Klinika Krawczyk for a breast-reduction operation. She’s joined by her mother Oksana (Taeke Nicolai), who’s in for a procedure of her own, and her boyfriend Michael (Bart Hollanders), who’s not keen on the sight of blood. His hemophobia will be sorely tested after he discovers the result of a “rejuvenation treatment based on experimental skin cell technology” (as Dr. Krawczyk describes it), which soon escapes and spreads a deadly plague throughout the hospital. Pretty soon, Alison, her loved ones, Dr. Krawczyk and a handful of others are the only survivors left, attempting to make their way through a...

Rlje Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, has picked up select rights to Yummy from Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural. Yummy will be released on October 6, 2020 on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray.

Directed by Lars Damoiseaux (“Undercover”) who also co-wrote the script with Eveline Hagenbeek (Rokjesdag), Yummy stars Maaike Neuville (“The Twelve”), Bart Hollanders (“Callboys”), Benjamin Ramon (Être),and Clara Cleymans (“Tegen de sterren op”).Rlje Films will release Yummy on DVD for an Srp of $27.97 and Blu-ray for an Srp of $28.97.

Now you can win the Win the Blu-ray of Yummy. We Are Movie Geeks has two Blu-rays to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite horror movie so far this year is. (mine’s Possessor It’s so easy!)

1. You Must Be A US Resident. Prize Will Only Be Shipped To US Addresses. No P.

Collection of shorts was filmed with Covid-19 safety measures in place by directors including Michael R Roskam (‘Bullhead’).

A collection of films shot during lockdown with a cast that includes Matthias Schoenaerts is to be presented at Re>Connext (Oct 5-31), the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

A first look at The Lockdown Shorts, which spans drama, comedy, thriller and horror, will be presented as a works in progress project at the virtual event by producer-directors Gilles Coulier and Maarten Moerkerke.

All 12 films were shot under coronavirus-safe conditions on the same studio set: a prison visiting...

Federation Entertainment has acquired international distribution rights to “Red Light,” a women-driven series created by Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”) and Halina Reijn (‘Instinct’) which will world premiere in competition at the third edition of Canneseries.

The 10-part Belgian/Dutch co-production, “Red Light” portrays three women with completely different backgrounds who get caught up in a world of human trafficking, prostitution and exploitation between Amsterdam and Antwerp. Sylvia, a prostitute, runs a brothel with her shady boyfriend, Esther is a well known soprano and comes from a wealthy environment and Evi is a policewoman trying to combine a major case with her family life.

“We have a mission to tell stories from a female perspective. ‘Red Light’ is exactly that: a story about women, sexuality and power but with enormous urgency,” said van Houten and Reijn.

“We’re very proud that, after a wonderful development and shoot with the whole team,...

The fourth series of Call My Agent will close the festival.

Dutch actresses Halina Reijn and Carice van Houten’s new drama Red Light and UK supernatural comedy horror tale Truth Seekers are among 10 upcoming series due to compete in the third edition of Canneseries which is taking place as a hybrid event from October 9 to 14.

The annual television festival was originally set to run last April alongside Miptv until the content market cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The festival was rescheduled for October to run alongside MIPCOM instead, which has since moved online due to ongoing health concerns around the virus.

Rlje Films has announced that Yummy will be released to VOD, Digital HD, DVD, and Blu-ray just in time for Halloween:

Los Angeles (Sept. 2, 2020) – Rlje Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, has picked up select rights to Yummy from Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural. Yummy will be released on October 6, 2020 on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray.

Directed by Lars Damoiseaux (“Undercover”) who also co-wrote the script with Eveline Hagenbeek (Rokjesdag), Yummy stars Maaike Neuville (“The Twelve”), Bart Hollanders (“Callboys”), Benjamin Ramon (Être), and Clara Cleymans (“Tegen de sterren op”). Rlje Films will release Yummy on DVD for an Srp of $27.97 and Blu-ray for an Srp of $28.97.

In Yummy, while waiting for his girlfriend to come out of surgery, Michael stumbles upon a terrified young woman, gagged and strapped to an operating table; she is the result of an experimental rejuvenation treatment. Offering to help her escape,...

Stars: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon, Clara Cleymans, Annick Christiaens, Eric Godon, Joshua Rubin, Taeke Nicolaï, Tom Audenaert | Written by Lars Damoiseaux, Eveline Hagenbeek | Directed by Lars Damoiseaux

Heading into surgery is stressful enough, but Alison (Maaike Neuville) has no idea what awaits her when she arrives at Klinika Krawczyk for a breast-reduction operation. She’s joined by her mother Oksana (Taeke Nicolai), who’s in for a procedure of her own, and her boyfriend Michael (Bart Hollanders), who’s not keen on the sight of blood. His hemophobia will be sorely tested after he discovers the result of a “rejuvenation treatment based on experimental skin cell technology” (as Dr. Krawczyk describes it), which soon escapes and spreads a deadly plague throughout the hospital. Pretty soon, Alison, her loved ones, Dr. Krawczyk and a handful of others are the only survivors left, attempting to make their way through a...

The notion of cosmetic surgery and experimental skin treatments leading to a breach in the boundary between life and undeath has already enjoyed a good outing recently thanks to the Soska sisters' take on Rabid. Hot on its heels comes Yummy, a Belgian zomcom with a lot of blood, a dash of romance and not a whole lot going on upstairs. It's an affectionate tribute to House Of The Dead's much-loved hospital level (even managing to insert the line "don't come" and make it sound natural) but in a marketplace already crowded with shuffling, glassy-eyed hordes, it doesn't do enough to stand out.

The story begins with Alison (Maaike Neuville), her boyfriend Michael and her mother Sylvia (Annick Christiaens). Alison has chosen to visit an elite private clinic for a breast reduction (cue lots of groping...

Blood's splattering and penises are ablaze in director Lars Damoiseaux's feature debut Yummy, a gore-filled zombie comedy that's as confused as it is deliciously gross. An over-the-top violent tale of plastic surgery gone disgustingly array, Yummy exudes intentional camp and shows glimpses of old Italian flare - an ambitious combination that just almost works. Pair that style with sporadic gross-out comedy and a few moments of dry wit and you've got a fun enough film for fans of fast-paced butchery.

Yummy follows a buxom young Belgian woman, Alison and her spineless klutz of a husband, Michael as they head to an eastern European hospital for Alison's breast reduction. Also tagging along is Alison's vain mother Sylvia who's due for another facelift.

The opening scene shows a bus of teen boys pulling up alongside their vehicle at a stoplight. The horny young lads can't help but notice Alison's boobs, toward which they make inappropriate gestures.

"I saw a man... eating a man!" Shudder has released another new Us trailer for the zombie comedy horror Yummy, from Dutch director Lars Damoiseaux. The film is set at a seedy hospital somewhere in Eastern Europe, where a young woman travels with her family in order to secure a lower price on plastic surgery. Wandering through an abandoned ward her boyfriend unknowingly frees a zombie woman who is "the result of an experimental rejuvenation treatment", releasing the virus and zombie mayhem. It's described as a "an orgy of blood, violence and fun." The film stars Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Clara Cleymans, Benjamin Ramon, Eric Godon, and Annick Christiaens. We posted the international trailer for this last year, this one is just as bloody. This latest trailer is for the Shudder streaming release later this month. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Lars Damoiseaux's Yummy, direct from Shudder's YouTube...

Looking to heat up your summer from the air-conditioned confines of your own home? Shudder has you covered this June with an eclectic set of horror films both old and new, including the Mark Patton documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses, the horror anthology Scare Package, and much more!

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder in the Us this June, and be sure to visit Shudder's website to learn more about the streaming service and their scary good lineup!

"Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street

Some have called it the 'gayest horror movie ever made,' but for Mark Patton, the star of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, it was anything but a dream come true. 30 years after its initial release, Patton sets the record straight about the controversial sequel...

Next month, the 2020 SXSW Film Festival kicks off in Austin, Texas, and this week, we finally have a look at the fest’s killer Midnighter slate, which includes one of this writer’s favorite films from Sundance, Natalie Erika James’ Relic. The 2020 lineup also features another Sundance 2020 title, Run Sweetheart Run, as well the latest from filmmaker Natasha Kermani (who recently helmed Imitation Girl), entitled Lucky, and The Void co-director Steven Kostanski’s latest gore-fest, PG (Psycho Goreman).

Other featured Midnighters include Dembanger from John Berardo, Elle Callahan’s Witch Hunt, The Vigil from writer/director Keith Thomas, and the Belgian zombie flick, Yummy. Check out the full rundown to see all of this year’s Midnighters, which will play during SXSW 2020 this March.

Dembanger

Director: John Berardo, Screenwriters: John Berardo, Lindsay Lavanchy, Brian Frager

Ellery Scott's world unravels when her star athlete brother is murdered on campus amidst a brewing scandal,...

"They wanted to look Yummy... They do!" Kinepolis Film in Belgium has debuted an official trailer for the European zombie comedy horror Yummy, from director Lars Damoiseaux. The film is set inside a seedy hospital, where a young woman travels with her family in order to secure a lower price on plastic surgery. Wandering through an abandoned ward her boyfriend unknowingly frees a zombie woman who is "the result of an experimental rejuvenation treatment", releasing the virus and zombie mayhem. Sounds like a good time, doesn't it? It's described as a "an orgy of blood, violence and fun." Starring Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Clara Cleymans, Benjamin Ramon, Eric Godon, and Annick Christiaens. Good news - this trailer is all in English. Not only is it crazy bloody and violent, but it's definitely Nsfw - so watch out. Here's the first official trailer (+ posters) for Lars Damoiseaux's Yummy, direct from YouTube...

Bas Devos’ Ghost Tropic is premiering in Directors Fortnight, while Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Horse Thief is in Cannes Classics.

Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Tian Zhuangzuang’s classic drama The Horse Thief, which is screening in Cannes Classics, and Bas Devos’ Ghost Tropic, selected for Directors’ Fortnight.

Tian’s 1986 classic is being presented by Xi’an Film Studio and China Film Archive, with the latter organisation financing and over-seeing a 4K digital restoration. The Tibetan-language film tells the story of a tribesman who is sent into exile after he steals a horse to support his family.

Netflix movies may still be question mark in terms of being allowed in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in May, but the streaming giant will be present at Cannes Series. The Cannes television festival will mark its second year next month with Netflix going up against rival Amazon in the competition section. The full lineup includes series from Israel, Norway, Spain, and Belgium.

Netflix’s competition entry is the German series “How to Sell Drugs Online Fast,” from writers Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. Amazon is heading to Cannes Series with “The Feed,” a London-set drama created by Channing Powell and based on the novel Nick Clark Windo. “The Feed” stars “Game of Thrones” favorite Michelle Fairley opposite David Thewlis in a story about a piece of technology that allows people to instantly share thoughts and emotions. The tech falls into the wrong hands and becomes a murderous weapon.

Cannes Series has revealed the lineup, jury and masterclasses for its second edition, which takes place alongside the Mip TV market on the French Riviera.

Among ten series in competition at the TV festival are Netflix’s German show How To Sell Drugs Online and Amazon’s UK series The Feed with Michelle Fairley and David Thewlis. Out of competition shows include Starz’ Now Apocalypse and Russel T Davies’ Years And Years. Scroll down for the lineup in full.

The competition jury will be presided over by Dark show-runner Baran bo Odar with members comprising actor, director and author Stephen Fry (Gosford Park), actors Miriam Leone (Non Uccidere) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education), actor and director Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and composer Rob (The Bureau). David Cross and Jude Law are among those with projects in the short form competition.

Among those set to give masterclasses will be Game Of Thrones...

About a Moroccan woman who falls asleep on a subway train.

Prolific Belgian director Bas Devos is to begin production later this month on his third feature, Night Palace, in Brussels.

The film is produced by 1080films, Minds Meet and Quetzalcoatl, with Saadia Bentaieb, Maaike Neuville and Nora Dari heading the cast. Devos revealed details of the project here in Berlin where his second feature, Hellhole, is screening in Panorama.

Night Palace is about a Moroccan woman who falls asleep on a subway train. When she wakes up, she is at the end of the line and the service has closed down,...

Jury led by Jeremy Thomas awards Terence Davies title with top award.

The 43rd annual Film Festival Ghent (Oct 11-21) awarded Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion with the Grand Prix for Best Film.

Shot largely at Aed Studios in Antwerp, the Emily Dickinson biopic is a UK-Belgium co-production.

The international jury was led by Jeremy Thomas. The veteran UK producer was also recognised by the festival for his contribution to cinema, receiving the lifetime achievement award.

Ahead of the closing-night screening of Belgian film-maker Bavo Defurne’s romantic drama Souvenir, Thomas and his jury – including Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, author Jonathan Coe and actresses Maaike Neuville, Lina El Arabi and India Hair – handed out the prizes.

Davies’ A Quiet Passion win came with $47.500 (€43,500) in prize money; special mention went to Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s Glory.

The Georges Delerue Award for best score went to Us producer/composer Johnny Jewel for Fien Troch’s Home...

British director’s Palme d’Or winning film opened the 43rd edition of the festival.

I, Daniel Blake director Ken Loach and actress Hayley Squires were in Ghent, Belgium last night (Oct 11) for the opening of the 43rd Film Fest Gent.

Loach, tireless at age 80, passionately introduced his Palme d’Or winning drama five times in five separate cinema screens at the Kinepolis multiplex. Loach said, “This is a story we needed to share. It is in a sense about how we choose to live together.”

The veteran director also held a Q&A away from the red carpet, at a public screening at the Vooruit, a venue that has long been associated with socialist causes, where the audience gave him a lengthy standing ovation.

Festival artistic director Patrick Duynslaegher said he wanted to open the festival with I, Daniel Blake because it offered a shared artistic experience “without excluding social and political relevance.”

Loach was also...

The 43rd edition of the Belgian film festival to open with Cannes Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake.Scroll down for competition line-up

The programme for the 43rd Film Fest Gent (Oct 11-21) has been officially announced, including 12 films in official competition, as well as a diverse array of features in the Nordic, Japanese and Belgian cinema categories.

The festival will open with Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, which won this year’s Palme d’Or in Cannes.

International guests will include Loach, Isabelle Huppert, Terence Davies, Olivier Assayas, Mark Rappaport, Derek Cianfrance, Asghar Farhadi and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The official competition opens on 16 October with Fien Troch’s Home, with the cast and crew in attendance.

Other directors presenting films in competition include Ivo Ferreira, Kôji Fukada and Terence Davies.

The international jury consists of producer Jeremy Thomas, director Tran Anh Hung (Norwegian Wood), actors Lina El Arabi (A Wedding) and India Hair (Staying Vertical...

Company You Keep: Greenaway’s Latest a Beguiling, Sumptuous Cinematic Film

One seems to forget that Peter Greenaway has been prophesying the death of cinema (for well over a decade now) after watching his visually sumptuous new film, Goltzius and the Pelican Company, which sees the auteur in top form, combining his arresting visionary panache with his signature taboo baiting subject matter in the realm of the high brow. The subject matter is a hard sell, and those unfamiliar or unaccustomed to Greenaway’s unclassifiable narratives (or lack thereof) will most likely be as baffled as ever, but fans of the director and/or offbeat, striking cinema will hopefully embrace one of the infrequent working Greenaway’s best films to date.

Hendrick Goltzius (Ramsey Nasr), a late 16th century Dutch printer and engraver of erotic prints, takes his employees, known as the Pelican Company, to visit the Margrave of Alsace...