Four films selected from the FIFA Mons, the Festival of Films about Love of Mons (Festival international du film d’amour de Mons), are being screened in Hanoi, yesterday through Saturday, September 17.

Film poster of La passion d’Augustine (Augustine’s Passion). 

The screenings are organized by the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation, the group’s first-ever time to share films on Vietnamese soil.

The film festival will introduce the four best films selected from FIFA Mons—whick took place in Mons in February—including Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament), La passion d’Augustine (Augustine’s Passion), La fille du Patron (The Boss’s Daughter) and Se Dio Vuole (God Willing).

Brand New Testament (Belgium, France, Luxembourg) is a fantasy drama. It reveals the life of God, who lives in an apartment in Brussels that he shares with his meek wife and his 10-year-old daughter Ea, whom he is abuses emotionally and physically. One day, Ea sneaks into his office and discovers how he has been mistreating humans.

Augustine’s Passion (Canada), tells of a Roman Catholic nun, Mother Augustine, who teaches music in a convent school in rural Quebec in the 1960s, and who fights to preserve her school against the backdrop of the social changes wrought by Vatican II and Quebec’s Quiet Revolution.

In The Boss’s Daughter (France), Vital is a 40-years old workshop foreman in a textile factory. He falls in love with the daughter of his boss when she chooses him for an ergonomic study, but their relationship attracts the rage and disapproval of everyone.

God Willing (Italy) is a story about Tommaso, a successful, respected cardiac surgeon who also happens to be both arrogant and an atheist. However, Tommaso’s only son Andrea brings the family together to announce that he wants to become a priest. Tommaso refuses to accept his Catholicism, and is horrified when his wife Carla and daughter Bianca consider it themselves. Tommaso goes undercover while Andrea is absent, on retreat in a monastery, to investigate and bring down the charismatic Father Don Pietro, who he believes has "brain-washed" his son and caused upheaval in his family.

To celebrate the occasion, FIFA Mons president André Ceuterick will attend and share some remarks to the audience, especially on his festival’s area of expertise: love.

“Love has no border and no limit, that’s the reason why we can bring FIFA Mons to many places and receive a warm welcome from local audiences,” he said.

“We are curious to hear Vietnamese audience’s remarks on these four films.”

Ceuterick said he admired Vietnamese cinema and has worked with director Đặng Nhật Minh and Trần Anh Hùng. He expected that one day he would have a chance to discover more about Vietnamese cinema and that Vietnamese film will be presented at FIFA Mons next year.

FIFA Mons was launched in 1984 in Wallonie region, Belgium. The festival first took place in 1985 and organised every two years. Some films at the festival focused on a title of love. Up to now, FIFA Mons is one of some prestigous film festivals in Belgium, EU and the world.

The film festival will take place as a celbration of the 20 year anniversary of the Wallonie-Bruxelles delegation in VN.

The films will be presented to the audience at the VN National Studio for Documentary Scientific Films, 465 Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Hanoi, free entrance. 

VNS