Belgian film Young Hearts will have world premiere at Berlinale

Young Hearts by Belgian filmmaker Anthony Schatteman will have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival next month. The film received an invitation from the Berlinale for the Generation Kplus competition, the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) reported in a press release on Wednesday.

The film will be shown in the German capital on 17 February. Schatteman's feature debut tells the story of 14-year-old Elias and his first crush. The main character of the young adult film is attracted to his new neighbour and soon realises he is in love for the first time. Newcomers Lou Goossens and Marius De Saeger star in the lead roles, with supporting parts for Geert Van Rampelberg and Emilie De Roo.

"Young Hearts is the film I wish I had seen when I was young and struggling with falling in love and my own feelings. Thanks to its selection for the Berlin International Film Festival, Young Hearts will have an incredible forum to be introduced to a wide audience," Schatteman said in the press release.

Another Belgian contribution to the Berlinale is the "experimental" documentary hold on to her by filmmaker and visual artist Robin Vanbesien. This world premiere has been submitted to the Forum Expanded competition for contemporary cinema in various forms. The documentary is about the death of two-year-old Mawda, who was killed in 2018 by a police bullet during a pursuit of a van carrying migrants en route to the UK.

Two Flemish co-productions also reached Berlin: Tongo Saa (Rising Up At Night) by Nelson Makengo in the Panorama competition and Xiao Ban Jie (The Great Phuket) by Yaonan Liu in the Generation competition.

^{#FlandersNewsService | © PHOTO STEFANIE LOOS / AFP}