The film “Maldoror”, directed by Fabrice du Welz, is the winner of the Adriatic Region Festival Network Audience Award (Adriatic Audience Award), presented at the 31st Festival of Auteur Film in Belgrade.
The aim of the Adriatic Audience Award is to promote and enhance the visibility of European cinema, and thanks to this award the film will be screened from 19 March to 9 April in cities across the region — Belgrade, Sarajevo, Herceg Novi, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Bitola.
“Maldoror” is a thriller inspired by real events in Belgium in the mid-1990s. The story begins when two young girls go missing, and a young and impulsive police recruit, Paul Chartier, is assigned to a covert unit known as “Maldoror”, established to track a dangerous sexual offender. When the operation fails, disillusioned by the limitations of the legal system, Chartier embarks on a personal investigation, determined to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The film offers a powerful and realistic portrayal of the struggle against deeply rooted evil, but also of a society that fails its most vulnerable members. “Maldoror” is also the first instalment in a planned trilogy by Fabrice du Welz exploring the darker side of Belgian history, power and justice. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.
Critics have particularly highlighted the film’s intensity and atmosphere. The Screen Daily portal notes that “Maldoror” evokes epic stories of crime and punishment characteristic of American cinema of the 1970s, especially the films of Sidney Lumet, while Fabrice du Welz transforms true events into a complex and multilayered story about a police officer whose pursuit of justice brings him into conflict with everyone close to him. The mounting tension, moral dilemmas and personal consequences make this film a gripping and compelling thriller.
According to Cineuropa, “Maldoror” is an ambitious and layered cinematic fresco about Belgium in the 1990s — its institutional dysfunctions and collective traumas, as well as the far-reaching nature of evil. In this film, Fabrice du Welz turns to the police procedural genre, leading audiences into the heart of the Sicilian community in Charleroi in the mid-1990s, in a story inspired by the case of Marc Dutroux.
The film “Maldoror” received the highest number of audience votes aggregated from all festivals within the Adriatic Region Festival Network, which includes the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Herceg Novi Film Festival – Montenegro Film Festival, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Festival of Auteur Film, the Zagreb Film Festival and the Manaki Brothers festival in North Macedonia.
The Adriatic Region Festival Network is supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe.
_______
Regional Audiences Choose: Fabrice du Welz’s Film Maldoror Arrives in Local Cinemas
The film Maldoror, directed by Fabrice du Welz, is the winner of the Adriatic Audience Award of the Adriatic Region Festival Network, presented at the Festival of Auteur Film in Belgrade.
The aim of the Adriatic Audience Award is to promote and enhance the visibility of European cinema. Thanks to this recognition, Maldoror will be screened from 19 March to 9 April in cities across the region — Belgrade, Sarajevo, Herceg Novi, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Bitola.
Maldoror is a thriller inspired by real events that took place in Belgium in the mid-1990s. The story begins when two young girls go missing, and a young and impulsive police recruit, Paul Chartier, is assigned to a covert unit known as “Maldoror”, established to track a dangerous sexual offender. When the operation fails, disillusioned by the limitations of the legal system, Chartier embarks on a personal investigation, determined to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The film offers a powerful and realistic portrayal of the struggle against deeply rooted evil, but also of a society that fails its most vulnerable members. Maldoror is also the first instalment in a planned trilogy by Fabrice du Welz exploring the darker side of Belgian history, power and justice. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.
Critics have particularly highlighted the film’s intensity and atmosphere. According to Screen Daily, Maldoror evokes epic stories of crime and punishment characteristic of American cinema of the 1970s, especially the films of Sidney Lumet, while Fabrice du Welz transforms true events into a complex and multilayered story about a police officer whose pursuit of justice ultimately brings him into conflict with everyone close to him. The mounting tension, moral dilemmas and personal consequences make this film a gripping and compelling thriller.
According to Cineuropa, Maldoror is an ambitious and layered cinematic fresco about Belgium in the 1990s — its institutional dysfunctions and collective traumas, as well as the far-reaching nature of evil. In this film, Fabrice du Welz turns to the police procedural genre, leading audiences into the heart of the Sicilian community in Charleroi in the mid-1990s, in a story inspired by the case of Marc Dutroux.
Maldoror received the highest number of audience votes aggregated from all festivals within the Adriatic Region Festival Network, which includes the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Herceg Novi Film Festival – Montenegro Film Festival, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Festival of Auteur Film, the Zagreb Film Festival and the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers’ Film Festival.
The Adriatic Region Festival Network is supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe.
