''The Giants'' (french: Les géants) is a 2011 Belgian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Bouli Lanners, written by Lanners and Elise Ancion, starring Zacharie Chasseriaud, Martin Nissen, Paul Bartel, Didier Toupy, Karim Leklou,

Marthe Keller Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945) is a Swiss actress and opera director. She is perhaps best known for her role in the film ''Marathon Man (film), Marathon Man'' (1976), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting ...

and Gwen Berrou. Shot in the Ardennes in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, produced by Jacques-Henri Bronckart and Jani Thiltges for Versus Production, it was released in Belgium on October 12, 2011. ''The Giants'' had its world premiere in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

at the

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South ...

on May 20, where it won the

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

Prize and the Art Cinema Award. It has received high praise from film critics and is considered one of the best Belgian films of that year, winning five Magritte Awards, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

Plot

Abandoned at their late grandfather's house for the summer, teenage brothers Zak and Seth are left to their own devices. With the endless possibilities of summer fun and adventure to be had in the idyllic Belgian countryside, they feel the world is their oyster. But when money runs short and with no help in sight, the boys scheme to support themselves by renting their deceased grandfather's house to a local drug dealer, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Cast

* Zacharie Chasseriaud as Zak * Martin Nissen as Seth *

Paul Bartel Paul Bartel (August 6, 1938 – May 13, 2000) was an American actor, writer and director. He was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy '' Eating Raoul'', which he wrote, starred in and directed. Bartel appeared in over 90 movies and ...

as Danny * Didier Toupy as the dealer * Karim Leklou as Angel *

as Rosa * Gwen Berrou as Marth

Release

The film premiered on 20 May in the

at the

. The film was subsequently screened at various film festivals, including

Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur The ''Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur'' (FIFF) is a festival dedicated to French speaking films in Namur, Belgium created in 1986, reflecting francophone diversity, from Europe, Canada and Africa. History The festival is cr ...

and BFI London Film Festival, and premiered in the United States at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 27, 2011. The Belgian regular release was on 12 October 2011 through O'Brother Distribution. Haut et Court bought the distribution rights for France and Eye Film Instituut bought the Dutch distribution. The film was released in France on 2 November 2011 and in the Netherlands on 26 January 2012. As of November 6, 2011, ''The Giants'' has grossed $211,657 in Belgium and $119,816 in France. Following its wins at the

2nd Magritte Awards The 2nd Magritte Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie André Delvaux, honored the best films of 2011 in Belgium and took place on February 4, 2012, at the Square in the historic site of Mont des Arts, Brussels beginning at 7:45 p.m. CE ...

, it was announced O’Brother Distribution would re-release the film in Belgium on 8 February 2012. ''The Giants'' was released on DVD on March 7, 2012 in France. The home edition contains a making-of and a music video for the theme song "The Bony King of Nowhere" by Bram Vanparys.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giants, The 2011 drama films 2011 films Belgian drama films Films set in Belgium Films set in Luxembourg Films shot in Belgium Films shot in Luxembourg 2010s French-language films Magritte Award winners French-language Belgian films Films directed by Bouli Lanners