Drum roll... Tonight is the opening ceremony of the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF).

The opportunity to come back to the genre cinema and its dedicated festivals. Guy Delmote (Managing Director at the BIFFF) and Loïc Valceschini (Artistic Director at the Neuchatel Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland) give us their feelings on their festivals reinvented with a covid sauce and their vision on the evolution of the genre cinema these last years.

The Berlinale International Jury has announced the winners of the 2021 Competition. That Jury was made up of six directors, all former laureates of the Golden Bear award : Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gianfranco Rosi (Italy), Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran), Nadav Lapid (Israel), Adina Pintilie (Romania) and Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary). All in all, productions from 16 countries were represented in the Competition. 

On its side, the three-member Encounters Jury (French programmer Florence Almozini, Argentinian artistic director Cecilia Barrionuev and German editor and publisher Diedrich Diederichsen) has revealed the winners for Best Film, Best Director and Special Jury Award in the Encounters section. 

The Generation International Jury (composed of German actress Jella Haase, Dutch director Mees Peijnenburg and German director and screenwriter Melanie Waelde) and The International Short Film Jury (including German actor Sebastian Urzendowsky, Austrian cinematographer Christine A. Maier and Egyptian artist Basim Magdy) has announced the 2021 Awards for both the Generation & Berlinale Shorts sections.

After announcing that the Berlinale 2021 would be held in two stages: a first virtual part for the press and professionals (1-5 March) followed by a "summer special" dedicated to the public (9-20 June), the Festival organisation has unveiled its Generation, Retrospective, Berlinale Shorts, Forum, Forum Expandedand Berlinale Series selections. 

Discover the full list of selected productions on Moonday!

From the 28th of January to the 3^rd of February 2021, the Sundance Film Festival will be held online. In the programme: seven days of premieres, artist talks and exhibitions. The Festival will also connect with independent cinema communities across the U.S. and abroad to safely host in-person events. 

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has revealed its line-up for its 50th edition. As an exception, the 2021 IFFR will be held as a two-stage festival: a first hybrid showcase of films from the 1st to the 7th of February, followed by a physical event from the 2nd to the 6th of June.

Last week, Warner Bros Pictures announced a simultaneous release of all its 2021 movies in theatres and on its HBO Max streaming platform. While some professionals see this as the end of the movie theatres, Lumière's General Manager, Alexander Vandeputte, believes that VOD platforms will never replace cinemas but could generate new audiences.

The Short Film Festival Leuven, whose 26th edition took place from the 5th to the 12th of December, has presented a selection of short films – fiction and animation, documentaries as well as non-narrative movies. Find out about the 2020 winners on Moonday!

C’est lors de la conférence de presse donnée par le Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur ce lundi 21 septembre que la sélection du festival a été dévoilée.