Belgian Director Jaco Van Dormael to Hold Workshop in Iran Film Fest

Belgian director and writer Jaco Van Dormael, who is most famous for his special focus in respectfully and sympathetically portraying people with mental and physical disabilities, is scheduled to hold a workshop during the 38th Fajr International Film Festival.

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The workshop will be organized online on May 6, and Iranian critic Majid Eslami will conduct an interview with Van Dormael during the workshop, the organizers announced on Wednesday.

Van Dormael, 64, spent his childhood traveling around Europe, before going on to study filmmaking at the INSAS in Brussels, where he wrote and directed his first short film, “Maedeli la Brèche” in 1981, which received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the Student Academy Awards. 

His feature debut, “Toto le Héros”, won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.

Five years later, his “Le Huitième Jour” brought his two leading actors, Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, the award for best actor at Cannes. In 2009, his third feature film, “Mr. Nobody”, won Magritte Awards in six categories, including best film and best director. 

“It’s always mysterious and it’s always a miracle when the audience comes to see a film,” Van Dormael said regarding how his works generally are distributed in a report published by Screen Daily about “Bovary”, his first screen effort since “The Brand New Testament” in 2015.

“When I make a film, it’s like dropping a message in a bottle in the sea. I never know who will find it or if somebody will read the message. I don’t know what will happen with this one,” he added of the international prospects for “Bovary”. 

“It’s a very strange film… I know it’s not theater but I don’t know if it is a film.”

The Fajr International Film Festival will take place in Tehran from May 26 to June 2.

This article has been adapted from its original source.