- Title: BELGIUM: 1999 CANNES PALMES D'OR WINNER 'ROSETTA' GOES ON GLOBAL RELEASE
- Date: 29th September 1999
- Summary: (BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, SEPTEMBER 29 1999) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) Du Bois saying: For a few years, Belgium has had some successes in events like Cannes. When I go back to 'C'est Arrive Pres de Chez Vous, 'Toto le Heros', 'Le Huitieme Jour' the films of Jaco Van Dormael, 'The Promise' by the Dardennes... Yes the Golden Palm. You cannot dream for more than tha
- Embargoed: 14th October 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Reuters ID: LVA23W4ZNYXOJF5NCU1N9KXEUFRW
- Story Text: The 1999 Cannes Palmes d'Or winner "Rosetta", which has opened in Brussels and Paris is about to go on global release in the next few weeks.The movie, which describes the challenges facing a working class girl from one of the poorer areas of northern Europe is something of a rarity: it is the first Belgian film to win the coveted Palme d'Or and its Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, also won the best actress award.
For many, Belgium's contribution to global culture has stopped at Tintin and Hercule Poirot.
But that is about to change, as the country's cinema breaks onto the international scene.
Rosetta, which has just been released in Brussels and Paris, is a minor triumph for Belgium.
For the first time in history, a Belgian movie has won not only the best actresses' award but also the coveted Palme d'Or.
In recent years Belgium cinema has enjoyed critical acclaim worldwide with films such as Le Maitre de musique and Ma Vie en Rose and Van Dormael's Toto le Hero and his follow-up Le Huiteme jour.
However such critical acclaim has not always guaranteed box office success, especially in Belgium itself.
Rosetta by Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne may finally convince Belgian audiences that their home grown talent is worth supporting especially after winning the Palme D'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes in May.A decision which shocked many, including the Dardenne brothers themselves.
Few journalists even bothered to turn up for the screening expecting Pedro Almodovar's Todo Sobre de mi Madre to walk away with the covetted prize.
In its first few days of release in Belgium, Rosetta has been viewed by over 20,00 nationwide.Nearly 20 percent of that figure has attended the film at Brussels' largest multiplex UCG, much to the surprise and satisfaction of the company.
UGC expects viewing figures to remain high as the film gains more attention this week with its Paris release.
Eliane du Bois, the head of the Belgian distributor, Cineart, says the marketing of Rosetta has been more a question of the kind of film it is rather than it being specifically a Belgian.
Shot in a cinema verite style and dependent on mostly natural sound it tells the story of Rosetta a disturbed lonely girl who lives on a trailer park in Liege, one of Belgium's most economically depressed regions.
Despite the harsh subject matter of the film Elaine du Bois is confident of its success here and worldwide. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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