Sweden's "Bloody Boys" win brussels script award

The Best Screenplay Award went to Sweden's "Bloody Boys/JÄVLA POJKAR), written and directed by Shaker K. Tahrer. The films traces three families going through rupture and turmoil. More here.

The full list of awards is as follows:

• GOLDEN IRIS AWARD for best film + Cineuropa Award DEATH FOR SALE by Faouzi Bensaïdi (France/Belgique/Maroc)  
• WHITE IRIS AWARD for best first film CLIP (KLIP) by Maja Miloš (Serbia)  
• AUDIENCE AWARD ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi (Italy/Germany)   
• FEDEX CINEPHILE AWARD KAUWBOY by Boudewijn Koole (Netherlands) 
• RTBF TV AWARD QUAND JE SERAI PETIT by Jean-Paul Rouve (France)   
• Be TV AWARD NO REST FOR THE WICKED (NO HABRÁ PAZ PARA LOS MALVADOS) by Enrique Urbizu (Spain)  
• PRIME TV AWARD THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Davies (USA/UK)   
• BEST SHORT FILM AWARDS: A NEW OLD STORY by Antoine Cuypers (Belgium) LE CRI DU HOMARD de Nicolas Guyot (Belgium) and ROBYN O. by Cecilia Verheyden (Belgium).

For more informtion, visit the Brussels Film festival.

Happy, Happy picks up script award in Brussels

The 9th Brussels Film Festival wrapped up last night in Brussels. The festival focuses on European cinema, paying particular attention to first and second films.

The best screenplay award offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters and the SABAM) went to

BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD

2.000€ offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters) and SABAM (Belgian Association of Authors, Composers and Publishers).

Jury : Frédéric Castadot, Annie Carels, Julie Bertrand, Jean-Baptiste Delaunoy

HAPPY HAPPY (Sykt lykkelig)

by Anne Sewitsky (Norway)

The Award was received by Ragnhild Tronvoll, screenwriter of the film.

THOMAS BIDEGAIN TO GIVE MASTERCLASS AT BRUSSELS FILM FEST

Thomas Bidegain

The 10th edition of the Brussels Film Festival is about to kick off on June 8, 2012. The festival has historically favoured first films from European directors. This year's event will have special Polish, Italian, Spanish and Walloon (the French-speaking half of Belgium) evenings.

The festival also has a series of masterclasses lined up that include Peter Aalbaek, the producer of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg (director of "The Hunt"), Jean-Michel Bernard (Michel Gondry's composer) and directors Peter Greenaway and Lucas Belvaux. Scriptwriters should block June 10, as Thomas Bidegain, writer of two exceptional films at this year's Cannes - "De Rouille et d'Os" (Rust & Bone) by Jacques Audiard and "A perdre la raison" by Joachim Lafosse, will be giving a 4-hour masterclass from 2pm at the Flagey centre.

The official competition features 12 European films competing for a total amount of €45,500, among which €10,000 for the Golden Iris Award for best film. The jury is composed of Frédéric Fonteyne (director), Tania Garbarski (actress), Peter Greenaway (director), Edouard Molinaro (director), Koen Mortier (director), Mireille Perrier (actress) and Bernard Yerles (actor).

For details, visit Brussels Film Festival.  List of films in competition.

Raindance scriptwriting course in Brussels

The Raindance Festival's Elliot Grove will be running his masterclass "Write and Sell the Hot Script" in Brussels on May 3 & 4, 2012. Grove has been running the class for years, and has also produced a good book with the same name (see below). The course is suitable for everyone interested in the entire story process from idea to script to screen.

Roger Corman: titles as pitches

To tie in with a horror exhibition at the EMP Museum in Seattle, horror maestro Roger Corman gave some background into the success of "Dinocroc" and the ludicrous "Sharktapus". Bad news for all of us scriptwriters that sweat over spec scripts for five years: all these films came from brainstorming sessions around titles! The rest was filled in by the team.

I've sat in on these sort of projects and nearly got a horror story set in Pyrenees going because of one. Before you rush around saying, "I could do that", remember that in these cases it's not what is being said that makes the difference, it's who is saying it and to whom!

PS: if anyone is interested in a low-budget slash movie set in the Pyrenees or Europe's first car tuning movie, you know who to contact.