Cinema Trottoir back on big screen in Molenbeek

Brussels is big on seasonal open air screenings and now Molenbeek is taking centre stage with Cinema Trottoir.

This annual film festival located almost next door to Recyclart is organised by Cinemaximiliaan, a platform uniting newcomers and Brussels residents around film.

Screenings – all made by people with a migration background – take place every Saturday until 12 September. Preceded by a convivial meal, they are followed by debates with the director.

In this fifth festival, “We don’t work on one specific theme, but the films are made by people with a migration background, or who live in exile,” Cinemaximiliaan co-director Alice Carson told Bruzz. “Their films are not necessarily about migration but bring stories and perspectives from other cultures to the audience.”

As most of the selected filmmakers live in Brussels, it is easier to host debriefings after the films, she said: “The films are sometimes about subjects less familiar to some of the audience, so with the debate these films get extra content and the audience learns more about how they are made. We also hope to inspire the public and show that it is possible to make films even in difficult circumstances and with small budgets.”

This year’s show highlights films from Gaza, Syria, French Guiana, Vietnam and Brussels. On Saturday 22 August, the film is Sugar Cage (2019, 60 minutes) by Syrian director Zeina Alqahwaji. Set in a patriarchal society, it follows women grappling with social expectations and invisible barriers as they seek autonomy, dignity and freedom.

The festival finale on 12 September, produced with collective cinema project RaveScreen, will take place at nearby La Grande Halle as well as at the festival’s main venue – Cinemaximiliaan’s Project House in Rue de Manchester. It features two short films accompanied by live music by DJs Leyli Maleki and Khorshyd Khajooyi.

All films are in the original language with French and Dutch subtitles or live dubbing in French and Arabic, as the organisation wants to make the festival as accessible as possible.

In the same vein, the shared meal aims to bring together people from different backgrounds. “The world is not getting any easier for newcomers,” said Carson. With Cinema Trottoir, “we are creating a place where community can be formed. Brussels residents, Europeans, people from all over the world, people who have just arrived, everyone comes together here.”

Cinema Trottoir requires no reservation, you can pay on the spot. Dinner starts at 19.00, and the films – except on 12 September (18.00) – begin at 21.00.

Cinemaximilaan works with a pay-what-you-can system. The suggested price is €10 for the meal and film.

Following Brussels’ summer film events Bruxelles Fait Son Cinema and Vaux Hall Summer, screenings continue on Wednesdays at Wolubilis and on Fridays at Place Colignon, Schaerbeek, until early September.