The Dardenne Brothers in Romania

Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two of the worlds most highly acclaimed filmmakers to come from Belgium visited Romania for the first time to launch their latest film “The Kid with a Bike. They were invited by the Walloon-Brussels Delegation in Bucharest

Eugen Cojocariu, 29.04.2012, 17:38

Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two of the world’s most highly acclaimed filmmakers to come from Belgium visited Romania for the first time to launch their latest film “The Kid with a Bike”. They were invited by the Walloon-Brussels Delegation in Bucharest as part of a special event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Delegation’s opening an office in Romania.

The film distributed by Independenta Film was then shown in cinemas across Romania. The Kid with a BIke had its official premiere in the international competition at the Cannes Festival in 2011 when it won the Grand Jury Prize.

The film was written, directed and produced by ean Pierre and Luc Dardenne and featured Cecile de France, Thomas Doret and Jeremie Renie. The production tells the touching tale of a 12-year old boy who desperately tries to find the father who had abandoned him in a foster home. The film was also awarded the best original screenplay award in 2011 at the European Film Awards, while Thomas Doret walked away with the Les Magrittes du Cinema award for most promising newcomer. But here’s Jean Pierre Dardenne speaking about the film:

“After all, I think you have to see this film as a story, because the characters are not essentially very sophisticated. I would even say they are more in the vein of ‘Pinocchio’. The main character has started a journey of initiation. He enters a forest and has to deal with negative characters, with the Fox. In this sense, I’d say our film has something I would call simplicity. It can even be seen as a fairy tale, with Samantha being the Good Fairy. And just like in any other fairy tale, the main character needs to be disillusioned in order to grow up. In the case of our main protagonist, the illusion he had to lose is that of ever seeing his father again.”

In 2006, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were the ones who handed the Camera D’Or Award of the Cannes Film Festival to Romanian filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu for his debut feature film “12:08. East of Bucharest”. In fact. the two Belgian filmmakers say they are great admirers of Romanian cinema. Here’s Luc Dardenne:

”We are familiar with the work of Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu and Cristi Puiu, and I can say that new wave of Romanian cinema was a revelation for us. I think Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Four months, Three Weeks and Two Days’ is an exceptional film. As for Corneliu Porumboiu, as chairmen of the Camera D’Or Jury at the Cannes Festival we decided the award should go to this young Romanian filmmaker for his extraordinary comedy. I liked his film so much that the first thing I did when we arrived in Romania was to go and see the balcony where the dictator Ceausescu gave his last speech to the masses. We have a great admiration for Romanian cinema and we are sure this country is full of talented filmmakers.”

The two Belgian filmmakers have so much faith in Romanian cinema that their film production company “Les Films du Fleuve” co-produced Cristian Mungiu’s latest film:

“We expressed our interest for Cristian Mungiu’s film, even before reading the script. After we read the script we liked it so much that we immediately accepted to coproduce it. We are proud and delighted to be part of this project”.

As regards the screening of European films in cinemas, the two French filmmakers believe European productions are not promoted enough:

“We understand that the problem in Romania has to do with the distribution of the films in cinemas. There is a similar situation in Belgium, where there is an invasion of Hollywood productions. This is unfortunate, because we should be able to see films from all over the world. This is why we hold the Cannes Film Festival in such great esteem, because the people there don’t have prejudices. The jury, the professionals who make the selection of films, are not interested where a particular film was produced. It is remarkable that such festivals still exist, festivals that allow national film industries to become international. Our films won international recognition thanks to this festival”.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s first feature film, “Falsch”, was premiered in 1987. Since then, the two won Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival twice, first in 1999 for “Rosetta” and again in 2005 for “The Child”. In 2002, “The Son” brought the two filmmakers the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, while Olivier Gourmet walked home with the prize for Best Actor.