Five films from Belgium’s Mons International Love Film Festival (FIFA Mons) will be screened free of charge in Hanoi from September 21-24.  

Fortunata is the story of a young mother with a failed marriage, who fights daily for her dream (Photo courtesy of the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation in Vietnam)

This screenings are being organised by the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation in Vietnam, and the National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio, following the success of the two seasons of FIFA Mons held in Vietnam in 2016 and 2017.

Anne Lange, a representative for Wallonie - Bruxelles in Vietnam, said the festival was a much-awaited cultural event for Vietnamese audiences thanks to the high quality of the films.

“This year we will present more films in more genres than last year,” she said.

The audience will have a chance to enjoy two tragedies, a comedy, an animation and a documentary. All of the films have been winners at international film festivals, she said.

Noces (A Wedding, 2016), a film of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Pakistan will start the festival.

Directed by Stephan Streker, the film is about Zahira, 18, who is close to her family until her parents ask her to follow Pakistani tradition to choose a husband. Torn between family customs and her western lifestyle, the young woman turns for help from her brother and confidant Amir.

It stars Lina El Arabi, Sebastien Houbani and Babak Karimi. The film has won various prizes at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (2017), Istanbul International Film Festival (2017), Lumiere Awards (France, 2018) and Cesar Awards (France, 2018).

I Am Not Your Negro is a 2016 documentary film which won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Documentary.

It is directed by Raoul Peck, based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, Remember This House. Narrated by Samuel L Jackson, the film explores the history of racism in the US through Baldwin’s reminiscences of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr, as well as his personal observations of American history. 

Fortunata (2017) tells the story of a young mother (Jasmine Trinca) with a failed marriage behind her, who fights daily for her dream to open a hair salon, challenging her fate in an effort to free herself and gain independence and the right to happiness.

Meanwhile, Lerd (A Man of Integrity) is a 2017 Iranian drama film about corruption and injustice in Iranian society, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where it won the main prize.

Especially for young audience, the animation Wake Up and Dream Again takes children on different adventures during a single film show.

One moonlit night, the Cinema owl flies onto a branch and greets the children from her perch. She tells them that she is a travelling storyteller who gathers the bedtime stories she overhears each evening at children’s bedroom windows.

FIFA Mons was launched in 1984 in the Wallonie region, Belgium. The festival first took place in 1985 and is organised every two years.

The film festival will take place as a celebration of the 25 year anniversary of the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation in Vietnam.

The films will be presented to the audience at the Vietnam National Studio for Documentary Scientific Films, 465 Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Hanoi.-VNS