Film programme on Fugitive Cinema Distribution

In the past six months, together with Liesje Baltussen and Steven Jacobs, I supervised a research seminar at the University of Antwerp that focused on the distribution activities of Fugitive Cinema. This Antwerp-based film collective, established in 1966, provided an alternative voice in the Belgian film industry, not only by producing their own films but also by distributing films that other distributors overlooked. Many of these films were in line with the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s (read more here). At the end of April, our research efforts into these distribution activities will culminate in a four-night film program at De Cinema in Antwerp. The four screening nights will offer a sample of the types of films that Fugitive Cinema distributed, including a rare archival discovery and several seldom-seen films.

This is the full programme:

Tuesday, April 18 at 8:15 pm: Workers’ Protests in Belgium
Introduction by Gertjan Willems (UAntwerp) & Patrick Humblet (UGent)
Dokstaking 73 (1975), Robbe De Hert
Vechten voor onze rechten (1962), Frans Buyens

Wednesday, April 19 at 8:15 pm: Workers’ Protests in the US: Harlan County, USA
Introduction by Sofie Delrue and Marilien Deraedt (UAntwerp students)
Harlan County, USA (1976), Barbara Kopple

Wednesday, April 26 at 8:15 pm: Formal and Social Engagement by Lethem, Henderickx & Marker
Introduction by Steven Jacobs (UAntwerp)
La Fée Sanguinaire (1968), Roland Lethem
Little Red Riding Hood and the Time-Bomb (1968), Guido Henderickx
La Jetée (1962), Chris Marker
Classe de Lutte (1969), Chris Marker & Groupe Medvedkine

Friday, April 28 at 8:30 pm: Experimental Cinema in Belgium: Ludo Mich
Introduction by Liesje Baltussen (UAntwerp)
Deus Ex Machina (1969), Ludo Mich
Arthur is Fantastic (1971), Ludo Mich
Lysistrata (1976), Ludo Mich