TUESDAY 18 NOV – H 18:00 – ROOM 3

VITRIVAL The most beautiful village in the world
BELGIUM – 2025 – color – 109’

Direction: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert
Screenplay: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert
Cinematography: Baptiste Bogaert, Marie Merlant
Editing: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert
Cast: Pierre Bastin (Pierre), Benjamin Lambillotte (Benjamin)
Producers: Beata Saboova, Vincent Metzinger in coproduction with Bastien Sirodot, Cédric Iland
Production: Naoko Films in coproduction with Umedia (Be)
World Sales: Patra Spanou Film

Synopsis
Benjamin and Little Pierre, cousins and local policemen, patrol Vitrival while listening to Radio Chevauchoir. They have a lot to do: dick graffitis are popping up on the village walls. Of course, no one has seen or heard anything. At the same time, a villager commits suicide, then two, then three. Season after season, dick graffitis and suicides proliferate. What can Benjamin and Pierre do about it? Days and celebrations will keep flowing, no matter what.

the directors: NOËLLE BASTIN, BAPTISTE BOGAERT
Baptiste Bogaert and Noëlle Bastin are a Belgian filmmaking duo based in Brussels. She studied French and Romance languages and literature, Baptiste studied film writing (ULB) and photography (La Cambre). They made short, medium and feature-length films, selected at several festivals (IFFR, Clermont-Ferrand, FIFIB, ALCINE, Escales documentaires de la Rochelle, etc.), acclaimed for their formal hybridity and the contemporary issues they tackle. They like to film real places, practices and people – hence the interweaving of fiction and documentary in their work, as well as the collaboration with nonprofessional actors.

director’s statement
“In our eight film and first feature-lenght fiction, Vitrival, what interest usi s not following a story, but capturing Vitrival itself – a village and its inhabitants reacting to troubling events while continuing with their daily lives. Trough Pierre and Benjamin, two local ypung inspectors, we challenge the relentless, streamroller-like approach of investigations in a classic fiction, where the world seems to stop in order to hunt down the culprits. Here, there is no real investigation, no real culprits, and nothing truly gets resolved. Vitrival is Noëlle’s native village, where her entire family lives all the characters are inhabitantsof the village. We filmed them over four season, creating a story that is both serious and humorous, offering a glimpse into life in a small Belgian village.”

filmography
2017 La Cour (The Schoolyard, short)
2019 Salut Travail (Hi Job, short)
2020 Veille (Monitoring, short)
2020 Traquer (Hunting Down, medium)
2021 Tout Péter (Tear It Down, short)
2022 On Sourira De Nous (We Will Be Smiled At, medium)
2025 Fosse Commune (short)
2025 Vitrival (Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village In The World)

awards and festivals
2025 Rotterdam IFF – Tiger Competition
2025 IndieLisboa Int. Independent FF – International Competition: Special Jury Prize
2025 Brussels IFF – National Competition: Best Actors (Pierre Bastin, Benjamin Lambillotte)
2025 Beijing IFF – Tiantan Award: Best Actors
2025 Galway FF: Peripheral Visions Award
2025 Hulst European FF, The Netherlands
2025 Bildrausch FF Basel, Switzerland
2025 Intl. du Film Grolandais de Toulouse, France
2025 Odessa IFF, Ukraine – European Competition