THRILLER COMPETITIONThriller JuryPRESIDENT of the JuryJean Van HammeJean Van Hamme began writing, in 1968,his first comic scenarios forPaul Cuvelier: the erotic "Epoxy" <strong>and</strong> the penultimate (avantdernière)adventure of"Corey". In 1976, became one of the mostwriters of Franco-Belgian comics, he devoted himself exclusively towriting. Thanks to his meeting with Grzegorz Rosinski the bestsellingseriesThorgal is born. And then nothing stops:• In 1977, with Danny, he launched Arlequin• In 1984, he published SOS Bonheur• In 1990, he adapted his series of novels Largo WinchWinner of nearly 40 Price, Jean Van Hamme received in 2005, the insignia of Officer ofArts <strong>and</strong> Letters. In 2011 he was knighted Comm<strong>and</strong>er of Arts <strong>and</strong> Letters of the Republicat the “Angoulême” Festival. He is the first writer formally honored by Comm<strong>and</strong>erof Arts <strong>and</strong> Letters of the Republic at the “Angoulême” Festival.Hughes HausmanHugues Hausman is a actor, director, writer <strong>and</strong> cartoonist. Ashe says “ Life is too short to do one thing”. He played in sometheatre <strong>and</strong> movies such as Hombres Complicados, Lisa,Resistance, Pas si grave, Taxi 4,… In 2009, he directed his firstfeature : Bonne Année Qu<strong>and</strong> Même ! for RTL-TVI. He ispreparing his next comedy feature !Romain RollBorn in 1964 in Luxembourg, Romain Roll was fascinated by moviessince he was very young <strong>and</strong> started his movie career already inschool by organizing a “Ciné Club”. Later he worked as a film critic,before founding together with the BIFFF, the LuxembourgInternational Film Festival Cinénygma. He was the director of thefestival specialized in the fantastic genre during 10 years. Romain isstill the coordinator of the European Fantastic Film FestivalFederation (EFFFF), the organizer of the “Méliès d’Or”, the annualprize of the best European fantastic film. He also works as anindependent in film production. Credits as an executive producer are:DUST, PIDO PERDON <strong>and</strong> WE ALL MIGHT FAIL. He is as well anEAVE (European audiovisual entrepreneurs) graduate.26
FILMS IN ICOMPETITIONCAPTIFS (Yann Gozlan/France)A Yann Gozlan FilmScreenplay: Yann Gozlan & Guillaume LemansZoé Félix, Eric Savin, Arié Elmaleh, Ivan Franek, Igor Skreblin, Philippe Krhajac, Margaux Guenier, Goran Kostic, Jana Bittnerova,Sacha Mijovic, Clara Barbosa, Typhaine Hilaire, Thaïs Fischer, Eric Kailey, Loïc Risser, Evelyn BiecherRunning time: 84 min.Somewhere in Eastern Europe, Carole is a young nurse with a humanitarian aid groupthat has finished its mission. But just then, the young woman <strong>and</strong> her two colleaguesare kidnapped by strangers for mysterious reasons. Held captive, cared for <strong>and</strong> keptalive in an oppressive <strong>and</strong> sinister setting, the three prisoners are soon horrified todiscover what their kidnappers really have in store for them...First-timer Yann Gozlan finally switches from short to long after realising two acclaimedshort features (Pellis <strong>and</strong> Echo). With Captifs aka Caged, Gozlan wanted to test hisown relationship with violence <strong>and</strong> anxiety. In other words, he tried to find a personalway as a director of transmitting those two harsh feelings to the audience, withoutfalling into the usual trap of increasing the level of violence. Very comfortable with thearchetypal conventions of the genre, Gozlan’s main inspiration for this movie was Franju’s The Eyes Withouta Face (1959). He displays masterful sobriety in dealing with a topic subject to an increasing amount ofmedia coverage these days: organ trafficking. Starring Zoé Félix (Welcome to the Sticks, Déjà Mort), AriéElmaleh (Persepolis, Chouchou) <strong>and</strong> Eric Savin (also in Mirages, screened at the BIFFF).ESSENTIAL KILLING (Jerzy Skolymowski/Hungary-Irel<strong>and</strong>-Norway-Pol<strong>and</strong>)A Jerzy Skolymowski filmScreenplay: Ewa Piaskowska & Jerzy SkolimowskiCast: Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigner, David Price, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Stig Frode Henriksen, Zach Cohen, Iftach Ophir, TracySpencer Shipp, Klaudia Kaca, Dariusz Juzyszyn, Robert Mazurkiewicz, Lars Markus Verpeide Bakke, Even Loken Bergan,ThomasBerg, Eirik Daleng, Morten EngerRunning time: 83 min.Captured by US Special Forces in Afghanistan, Mohammed is transported to asecret military black site. When the army convoy plummets off a steep hill,Mohammed finds himself free <strong>and</strong> on the run behind enemy lines. A hostile, snowblanketedforest gradually turns out to be an Eastern European wilderness.Relentlessly pursued by his captors, Mohammed constantly confronts the need tokill in order to survive.Legendary filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, who – let’s be chauvinistic for once –won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for the Belgian shot The Departure(1967), is far from self-indulgent when it comes to his work. But with EssentialKilling, he is in no doubt: it’s his best film! Intentionally vague on the maincharacter (a civilian caught in the wrong place at the wrong moment or a fierceTaliban fighter?), Skolimowski’s main point is more about a struggle of a managainst the wilderness than a political metaphor. From this perspective, he has also skipped superfluousdialogue <strong>and</strong> the names of the protagonists, apart from the two main characters (Vincent Gallo <strong>and</strong>Emmanuelle Seigner – who happens to be the wife of his fellow countryman Roman Polanski!). At the 2010Venice Film Festival, Essential Killing won the best actor award for Vincent Gallo <strong>and</strong> the Special Jury Prizefor Skolimowski.27