Cinema
Magnum Begynasium Bruxellense
Boris Lehman · 1978
Synopsis
A poor district in the centre of Brussels, built on the old béguinage and doomed to demolition. The film draws up its inventory in some thirty chapters fitted together like the pieces of a puzzle or the galleries of a termite mound, meeting about a hundred and fifty inhabitants. It all takes place in a single day, from dawn to night.
Context
The film was made with the inhabitants and with members of the Antonin Artaud club, the day centre where its author worked. Rather than an investigation, it is a collage of tiny observations and comic details. Filming lasted two years, during which houses were demolished or condemned. The Re:Voir DVD comes with a booklet, with a text by Storck and the presentation that Akerman wrote for the premiere.
Who it is for
Two hours twenty-five, in French, on 16 mm. It is explored the way one walks through a neighbourhood, without looking for a thread.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by Henri Storck as a turning point in the history of Belgian cinema, and a new way of speaking about reality.
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