JEAN – PIERRE & LUC DARDENNE TRIBUTE
The principal tribute of the 49th edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival will be dedicated to two-time Palm d’ Or winners Jean – Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The tribute will include a Masterclass and an honorary Golden Alexander. Accompanying the Dardenne Tribute, a monograph of the filmmakers’ work will be published by the Festival, featuring analyses and film reviews both in the Greek and English languages.
The two brothers, although having started out in different disciplines (Luc, 54, studied philosophy and Jean – Pierre, 57, studied drama), have collaborated for the past 30 years on numerous film projects, as co-directors, co-writers and co-producers. The Dardennes shot documentary films for about two decades under the auspices of their own production company, Derives, founded in 1975. The film Falsch (1987) signaled the filmmakers’ first foray into fiction film. The creation of their second company, Films du Fleuve, in 1994 aimed to produce their own film projects as well as those of other directors, such as Costa Gavras (The Ax, 2005) and Laurent Herbiet (The Colonel, 2006). The Dardennes have twice won the Palme d' Or for the films Rosetta in 1999 and for L' Enfant in 2005.
The Dardenne brothers have built a decidedly distinct body of work, based on quite specific work ethics and methods: the meticulous building of minor, yet significant, cinematic details, exhausting casting sessions which they conduct themselves in order to discover the appropriate actors for each film (often non-professionals), insistence on small budgets and close collaborations with the same people, behind and in front of the camera. They shoot their films in Belgium and more specifically in industrial Seraing, where they were born and grew up, with the exception of Lorna’s Silence, which was shot in the nearby city of Liege. Their brand of humane realism is politically charged without being didactic. It presents marginalized characters such as immigrants and unemployed youth, providing them with humanity and soul –found in the smallest of details-, without turning them into mouthpieces for social issues or portraying them as victims. In an interview conducted after the triumph of Rosetta, Luc Dardenne stated: “We don’t make movies to change the world. We hope that the world is going to change, but we don’t use movies to do that. If you have such an objective, you tend to manipulate. Its like publicity that encourages you to buy a brand”.
The tribute is set to showcase all the Dardenne brothers’ fiction films, including their rarely seen first fiction films, Falsch (1987) and Je Pense a Vous, which have never been released in Greece. The 49th TIFF will also screen their latest feature, Lorna's Silence (2008), which won the Award for the Best Screenplay at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Arta Dobroshi, the Albanian actress who received glowing reviews for the leading role in Lorna's Silence, will also attend the Festival for the screening of the film.
THE FILMS OF THE RETROSPECTIVE
Le Silence de Lorna (The Silence of Lorna, 2008)
Le Fils (The Child, 2002)
Rosetta (1999)
La Promesse (The Promise, 1996)
Je Pense a Vous (1992)
Falsch (1987)
Dans L’Obscurite, (2007, 3 min, created for the anthology film Chacun son cinema and the Cannes 60th FF)
Il Court... il Court le Monde (1987, 10 min)
Foreign Press Contacts:
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THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
9 Alexandras ave., 11473, Athens, Greece
Tel: 30 210 8706000, Fax: 30 210 64 48 143
www.filmfestival.gr
