Coup de coeur: hats off to the Brussels Art Film Festival

Brussels hosts many film festivals, but the Brussels Art Film Festival (BAFF) stands out with a program that’s both accessible and engaging. This year’s selection brings powerful documentaries and artist portraits, making art films enjoyable for all.

Are there more film festivals in Brussels than the rest of the country? In any case, there are a lot of them. It is not easy for the smaller organisations to attract attention in the shadow of crowd-pleasers like Anima, Pink Screens, or the BIFFF. Therefore, not only should we mention that the Brussels Art Film Festival (BAFF) this year is presenting a great programme. We simply must say it.

The BAFF started in the 1970s when ISELP, the Institut Supérieur pour l’Etude du Langage Plastique, treated Brussels to open-air screenings of films about art in the Egmont Park. Today, it is an indoor, full-fledged festival with films that are enjoyable and understandable even for someone without an art degree.

For instance, I am counting down to Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, a documentary about the South African photographer who was the first to share the horror of Apartheid with the world and who paid far too heavy a price for it.

After Lumumba and the James Baldwin film I Am Not Your Negro, director Raoul Peck always gets my attention. Peaches Goes Bananas also seems rather juicy. Not because it is a portrait of the Canadian queen of the electropunk scene who so convincingly sang “Fuck the pain away” but because director Marie Losier has previously amazed with catchy, poetic film portraits of musicians like Alan Vega from Suicide, Tony Conrad, and Genesis P-Orridge.

Closer to home, we find Thank God for the Gift: the definitive documentary about Jan Hoet, the charismatic art pope who used stunts and passionate speeches to warm up Belgium for contemporary art. BAFF all over the place.

The BAFF takes place from 13 tot 17/11 at various venues, baffestival.be