Renowned Italian film critic, historian, filmmaker, actor, book editor, and teacher, Adriano Aprà, passed away last week on April 15th.

Film theorist and filmmaker Laura Mulvey will visit Brussels for a Bozar program paralleling the Chantal Akerman: Travelling exhibition. On 11 May, she will discuss Chantal Akerman’s impact on cinema, from theory to practice. Sabzian is giving away 10 tickets for this event!

On April 19th, R(a/u)pture 1, a new experimental film event, will take place for the first time in Hasselt. The event is organised by the new collective of creators, thinkers, programmers and spectators known as R(a/u)pture.

Last week, German filmmaker and programmer Wolfgang Kolb passed away in Brussels.

On the weekend of 22 March, NW (Netwerk Aalst) is festively opening a brand-new building with a series of new film programmes and exhibitions. The whole weekend will be dedicated to encounters, rituals, films, performances, kitchen stories, workshops, and listening moments.

From Wednesday 27 March to Sunday 31 March, the twenty-third Courtisane Festival will take place in Ghent, Belgium. During the festival, Courtisane, a platform for film and audiovisual arts, will explore the relationships between image and world, aesthetics and politics, experimentation and engagement. Pieter-Paul Mortier, artistic director of the festival, guides us through this year’s programme.

Van woensdag 27 maart tot en met zondag 31 maart vindt het 23ste Courtisane festival plaats in Gent. Tijdens het festival onderzoekt Courtisane, een platform voor film en audiovisuele kunsten, de relaties tussen beeld en wereld, esthetiek en politiek, experiment en engagement. Pieter-Paul Mortier, artistiek en zakelijk leider van het festival, gidst ons door het programma van dit jaar.

From 18 to 31 March, the Cinémathèque française in Paris is hosting a complete retrospective of French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert. The retrospective coincides with the release of Philibert’s new film Averroès & Rosa Parks (2024) in French theatres.

The Italian director Paolo Taviani passed away on the 29th of February. It marks an end to a long cinematic journey which begins back in the 1950's with his life long collaborator and brother Vittorio Taviani.

American film scholar and writer David Bordwell passed away last week on 29 February.

On Sunday 3 March, Kaaitheater in Brussels is showing Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi. The film will be shown in the context of Refusing to Disappear, a series of decentralised film screenings and discussions organised by United Screens for Palestine, held in different cities and venues across Belgium to celebrate the rich legacy of Palestinian storytelling through films.

From 29 February to 20 March, Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam will screen an extensive retrospective of French filmmaker Claire Denis.

Na tien edities verdwijnt de internationaal gerenommeerde Contour Biënnale voor Bewegend Beeld. De sector van de audiovisuele en beeldende kunsten is een petitie gestart om het verdwijnen van de biënnale te voorkomen.

After ten editions, the internationally renowned Contour Biennial of Moving Images is now slated to disappear. The audiovisual arts sector launched a petition to avert its cancellation.

On Wednesday 21 February, the universities of Ghent, Antwerp, and Namur are collaborating to present a two-day symposium on post-war Belgian cinema. In collaboration with CINEMATEK, five film screenings have also been curated, all of which will be introduced by symposium participants.

From 14 February to 10 March, the Cinémathèque française in Paris is hosting an extensive retrospective of Boris Barnet, one of the most notable figures of Soviet cinema.

Na Fantômas stopt ook het filmtijdschrift Humbug, dat voor het eerst verscheen in 2021, met haar printedities.

From 20 February until 14 May, Cinema RITCS (with the support of UAB (Universitaire Associatie Brussel)), presents ‘The Power of Belgian Cinema’, an assortment of 11 lectures in English by 11 Belgian film scholars on important movements, films, filmmakers in the moving history of Belgian cinema.

Cinema Scope’s editor-in-chief Mark Peranson announced the closure of the Canadian journal.

The 5th edition of Festival En ville! will take place in Brussels cinemas from 29 January to 4 February 2024.

Van donderdag 11 tot en met zondag 14 januari vindt in Eindhoven het Nederlands Silent Film Festival plaats, een festival ter viering van stille films. Het festival biedt 13 filmprogramma’s aan met live muziekbegeleiding in Pand P en het Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.

Sabzian is taking a break. We’ll be back on 8 January. Best wishes and Happy New Year!

Supernova Coop, the cooperative associated with the iconic Cinema Nova in Brussels, has launched a new program to achieve the goal of acquiring their cinema building. The program starts on 11 January and includes a diverse array of films, meetings, exhibitions, concerts, and special events.

Georgian filmmaker Otar Iosseliani, born in 1934 in Tbilisi, passed away yesterday at the age of 89.

Ciné Rio (Ghent) and Cinema Nova (Brussels) welcome you to their first joint Kino Climates symposium!

Art Cinema OFFoff cele­bra­tes its 20th anni­vers­a­ry with a spe­ci­al edi­ti­on of the Night of Experimental Film on 8 December at De Centrale, Ghent.

On Monday the 13th of November, film critic and longtime editor of Positif magazine Michel Ciment died at age 85.

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) recently found itself embroiled in a controversy as several filmmakers – including Sky Hopinka, Miko Revereza, Maryam Tafakory, Charlie Shackleton, and Basma al-Sharif – withdrew their documentaries over allegations that the festival was stifling Palestinian activists.

Sabzian launches all-new website!

The first and main aim of this all-new design is to make our growing archive more visible and accessible, not least through a number of new features such as the Film Index, Issues, Collections, Screening Room, Audio Room and a further elaborated Search function.

Sabzian lanceert gloednieuwe website!

Het eerste en belangrijkste doel van dit volledig nieuwe ontwerp is om het groeiende archief zichtbaarder en toegankelijker te maken, niet in het minst door een aantal nieuwe functies zoals de Film Index, Issues, Collections, Screening Room, Audio Room en een verder uitgewerkte zoekfunctie.

Your support can help us maintain our quality standards and provide the means to pay for the work of our volunteers. Support Sabzian!

Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui passed away on October 14th alongside his wife, Vadideh Mohammadifar, after a fatal attack at their home. 

From November 15 to 19, Bozar, ISELP and CINEMATEK invite you back for the sixth edition of the Brussels Art Film Festival (BAFF).

Uw steun kan ons helpen om onze kwaliteitsnormen te handhaven en ons de middelen te geven om het werk van onze vrijwilligers te vergoeden. Steun Sabzian!

Cinéma Nova needs your support! Help them acquire the long-term lease of the cinema building located at number 3 rue d’Arenberg in Brussels, by supporting their recently started cooperative Supernova Coop.

From 15 to 23 November, the Antwerp based collective De imagerie organizes their eleventh edition of Visite Film Festival at art space Het Bos.

On Monday, November 6, film students from KASK School of Arts and KASK Resistance are organizing a screening at KASKcinema in solidarity with Palestine.

Ten years ago, Belgian critic Dirk Lauwaert (1944-2013) passed away. In November, two new books dedicated to Lauwaert’s writing will be released, followed by two film screenings related to his work in December at Cinema RITCS.

From 25 to 28 October, Beursschouwburg and Monokino are presenting two film programs composed by Erika Balsom.

Until 21 October, the Palestine Film Institute is presenting a series of films celebrating Gaza, its people, its struggle and its survival.

Terence Davies, the British filmmaker and novelist, passed away on October 7 at the age of 77.

Starting on October 5th, Goethe-Institut Brussels and CINEMATEK present the first complete retrospective of the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub in Belgium.

The Âge d’Or festival will be held again this year from 30 September to 3 October, in the CINEMATEK of Brussels. 

On the occasion of the exhibition Francis Alÿs. The Nature of the Game at WIELS from 7 September 2023 until 7 January 2024, Avila releases a collection of nine iconic films by Belgian artist Francis Alÿs. All films are globally available for free.

For the fifth time, SHHH, a film festival celebrating the power and poetry of silent film hosted by Monokino, will take place in Ostend from September 15 to 16.

Sabzian is taking a summer break. We’ll be back in September!

SIC (SoundImageCulture) recently launched it’s yearly call for new film projects. They’re in search of projects that are authentic and push the borders of audiovisual language, with care for aesthetic and ethical reflections.

This month, a new generation of graduating film students from INSAS (Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et des Techniques de Diffusion), RITCS Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound and KASK School of Arts present their work for the first time.

The sun is out and so is the cinema-goer. Sabzian made a list of cinema events for the summer (mostly outdoors), so you don’t have to miss the silver screen in the summer break.

On 8 June, Le p’tit ciné (Festival en ville!, Regards sur les docs) is hosting a special screening of the newly restored film Couple, Regards, Positions (1982), by Nadine Wandel and Boris Lehman, at Cinéma Palace.

From 16 June to 17 September, Jeu de Paume in Paris is hosting a major retrospective of Dutch filmmaker and photographer Johan van der Keuken.

On the occasion of the publication of The Afterimage Reader (The Visible Press, 2022) and in collaboration with CINEMATEK, Courtisane presents 12 screenings of films, mostly from CINEMATEK’s collection, that revive the British magazine Afterimage (1970-1987). Each screening is linked to an issue of the magazine.

From 2 to 3 June, the first installment of Echoes of Dissent will take place at beursschouwburg in Brussels. The program is the first part of a series of gatherings gravitating around the question: How to think of the sonic as a site of dissent? 

Austrian actor Helmut Berger, known for his long collaboration with Italian director Luchino Visconti, passed away last week at the age of 78.

Navire Argo, a French non-profit organization, has plans to create a vibrant new filmmaker’s hub in the former Éclair laboratory near Paris, dedicated to preserving photochemical film.

French writer, essayist and critic Philippe Sollers passed away last week on May 6 at the age of 86.

From July 9 to 15, Cinea invites you back to Antwerp for their yearly Zomerfilmcollege.

As a response to Jean-Luc Godard’s statement “We don’t know how to film sexual relations”, Nicole Brenez and Luc Vialle have concocted L’image des plaisirs, a programme of 216 brilliant and radical films, love poems, visual caresses or scopic impulses. The first part, subtitled Sexpérimentaux, takes place from 11 to 28 May in the Cinémathèque française.

Four times a year, the Deutsche Kinemathek presents a program of their films, which you can watch for free for three months. Until 14 July they present Female Perspectives, a program with nine feature and documentary films portraying women in front of and behind the camera.

On Friday 28 April MOUV’, the travelling cinema of Forest in Brussels, brings together film professionals for two roundtable discussions to exchange views on new forms of cinema and the role of (neighbourhood) cinema. 

In samenwerking met Een Hart Voor Vluchtelingen toont S.M.A.K. de film Sometimes one hour, sometimes three hours van KASK-student Maaike Jaspers. Van 22 april tot 14 mei is de film te zien in de Barco zaal van het S.M.A.K. te Gent.

Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art – in Berlin is hosting a Kira Muratova retrospective until 23 april.

Recently Belgian streamingplatform Avila released a new collection dedicated to the short experimental work of Belgian film pioneer Charles Dekeukeleire.

At the invitation of CINEMATEK and as prelude to C0N10UR, an eight-week exhibition in the city of Mechelen scheduled for next autumn and curated by Auguste Orts, some of the artists participating in the biennial event will present film works: Elephy, Mieriën Coppens & Elie Maisin, Annik Leroy, Rosine Mbakam and Subversive Film.