Blue Bird

FORMAT Original version: Tamberma, French Running time: 86’ Format: cinescope large Year of Production: 2011

PRODUCTION Production company: Minds Meet Flemish producer: Tomas Leyers Supported by: Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Belgische Ontwikkelingssamenwerking (DGD), Mollywood INFO MINDS MEET Tomas Leyers Kerkeveldstraat 103 1020 Brussels Belgium M +32 476 46 00 15 tomas@mindsmeet.be www.mindsmeet.be

SALES COPRODUCTION OFFICE bureau@coproductionoffice.eu 24 rue Lamartine 75009 Paris France T +33 1 5602 60 00 F +33 1 5602 60 01 bureau@coproductionoffice.eu www.bluebirdthefilm.com

Contact: Flanders Image, Bischoffsheimlaan 38 - B-1000 Brussels - Belgium - T +32 2 226 06 30 - F +32 2 219 19 36 - E flandersimage@vaf.be Flanders Image is a division of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF)

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CREDITS Original title: Blue Bird Director: Gust Van den Berghe Cast: Bafiokadié Potey, Téné Potey Original screenplay: Gust Van den Berghe Inspired by a play of Maurice Maeterlinck Photography: Hans Bruch Jr. Editing: David Verdurme Sound: Matthias Hillegeer Music: Michelino Bisceglia, Alexander Zhikharev

VAF WILDCARD

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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Gust Van den Berghe (°1985) is a multidisciplinary artist.

Through a great love for music he discovered dance, and quickly grew to become a notorious breakdancer. He danced in theater pieces including for Praga Khan, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, Robert Groslot and Marc Bogaerts. He studied audiovisual arts at the RITS academy in Brussels. His first feature film Little Baby Jesus of Flandr was developed from his graduation project by Minds Meet.

Blue Bird is his second feature film.

One morning, Bafiokadié and his sister Téné, two African children, leave their village. The only thing on their mind is to find their lost blue bird before the day is over. But they will find much more along their way: they encounter their deceased grandparents, they fight the soul of the forest and learn from the Chief of Pleasure. Everyone tells them a story about life and death. At the end of their long journey, the brother and sister enter the Kingdom of the Future and meet some yet-to-be born children. Delighted with this discovery, they eventually return home.

Blue Bird is a story about how one day in a child’s life can change its world. For as we lose something we gain something.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Tomas Leyers co-founded Minds Meet with Caroline Strubbe. Based in Brussels, the production company specialises in the creation of artistic European cinema and the set up of unique live events.

Besides producing these large events, he started his EAVE workshops in 2006 and was a Producer on the Move in Cannes 2007. In 2008 he produced Strubbe’s first feature Lost Persons Area (Cannes, International Critics Week 2009) and the short Kaïn (Berlinale Shorts, 2009) by Kristof Hoornaert.

Meanwhile he co-produced several films like The Day God Walked Away by Phillipe Van Leeuw (Toronto 2009) and La cantante de tango (Locarno 2009) by Diego Martinez Vignatti. He picked up Little Baby Jesus of Flandr (Cannes, Directors Fortnight 2010) by Gust Van den Berghe whose Blue Bird he produced in 2011. Leyers currently is in the process of developing a couple of features (such as Caroline Strubbe’s second, Deep in a Dream of You), documentaries and shorts.