In October 2024, Wallonia-Brussels in Geneva partnered with the Geneva international queer film festival Everybody's Perfect to put the spotlight on Belgian cinema.
The programme included several French-language Belgian films:
- Les Tortues, a comedy-drama directed by David Lambert that stars Dave Johns and Oliver Gourmet as Thom and Henri, a gay couple in Brussels who is faced with challenges when Henri retires from his job.
- Aline Mangrez's poetic documentary Queerying Nature, which questions sexual and gender norms through our relationship with nature.
- The short film Les libellules, a dialogue-free animation by Loris Hanck, Adèle Fréchoux and Léa Codden that depicts the secret love between a woman and her maid in the early 20th century.
- The short documentary Păcat by Ivona Homicianu looks at the life of Ivona, a young girl who, after growing up in an orthodox Romanian culture, is able to embrace her lesbian identity after moving to Brussels for her studies.
To top it all off, spectators were invited to a festive Belgian evening on Wednesday 9 October, where they were served Belgian fries and beers!
Wallonia proudly waves the rainbow flag
This cultural partnership fostered discussions around French-speaking Belgian cinema, while highlighting Wallonia-Brussels’ strong commitment to LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s long-standing commitment to fight against all forms of discrimination is testified by their numerous initiatives such as the declaration of Wallonia as an LGBTQIA+ freedom zone in 2021 or the work on deconstructing gender stereotypes in schools. By supporting Everybody's Perfect, Wallonia-Brussels promotes the deconstruction of stereotypes through cinema and more generally, the calls for a society that guarantees the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities.
