Two Belgian French-language films, “Keeper”, by Guillaume Senez and “Les oiseaux de passage” by Olivier and Yves Ringer, have received international prizes. This was announced by Wallonia-Brussels Images on Saturday. The first film got the Europa Cinemas Label prize, while the second got the Grand jury prize at the International Children’s Film Festival in Tokyo (Kineko). The world première of “Keeper”, the first feature film by director Guillaume Senez, was at the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland), which ended on Saturday. It tells the story of a couple of 15 year old adolescents, and what happens when the girl falls pregnant.
The Europa Cinemas Label prize was decided by a jury made up of Europa Cinemas network managers. It is given to the best European “Discovery” film, and is selected from five big festivals: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs(Cannes), Giornate degli Autori (Venise), Panorama (Berlin), East of the West and Compétition officielle (Karlovy Vary) and Concorso internazionale et Concorso Cineasti del presente (Locarno).
“Keeper” was produced by Iota Production in Belgium, with Support from the Cinema Centre, the Wallonia-Brussels Audiovisual Federation, and the RTBF.
“Les oiseaux de passage” by Olivier and Yves Ringer, received the Grand jury prize at Kineko, the main film festival for Japanese children. The film follows the experiences of a girl who gets an egg to hatch for her tenth birthday. The film had already won other prizes, including the Grand Prize and the European Children Film Association Award during the Czech Zlin film festival.
“Les oiseaux de passage” was produced by Ring Productions, with support from the Cinema Centre and the Brussels-Wallonia Audiovisual Federation.
(Source: Belga)
