The 28th Namur International Francophone Film Festival was held September 27 through October 4, 2013.
The festival opened with a screening of Blue is the Warmest Color by Abdellatif Kechiche, held in the presence of the director and actresses Mona Walravens and Catherine Salée.
This year's program included 147 productions, including 76 feature films.
The French productions and co-productions showcased at the event included Playing Dead by Jean-Paul Salomé, Gare du Nord by Claire Simon, Lulu in the Nude by Solveig Anspach, A Castle in Italy by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Le Démantèlement by Sébastien Pilote, Henri by Yolande Moreau, The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh, The Conquerors by Xabi Molia, Aya of Yop City by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, Under the Starry Sky by Dyana Gaye, Me, Myself and Mum by Guillaume Gallienne, Juliette by Pierre Godeau, Nesma by Homeïda Bahi, and Sense of Humor by Marilyne Canto.
In addition to these screenings, the festival placed the focus on professional meetings, which are an annual fixture, this year featuring events such as the 10th Namur Forum, On the Tracks of the "Atelier Grand Nord", the Producers' and Programmers' Brunch, and Cinema Lessons by Jean-Paul De Zaeytijd, Vincent Van Gelder, Catherine Corsini, and Benoît Graffin. Ranking as the world's biggest international French-language film festival, the Namur Festival welcomed around 500 guests and 380 journalists this year. Among festival guests were Josiane Balasko, who offered her "Coup de Cœur" selection, and Olivier Gourmet, who was the festival's honorary president. Other guests included Louise Archambault, Aure Atika, Homeïda Behi, Astrid Berges-Frisbet, Sébastien Betbeder, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Marilyne Canto, Grégoire Colin, Catherine Corsini, Slimane Dasi, Angèle Diabang, Virginie Efira, Amel Felloussia, Guillaume Gallienne, Nicole Garcia, Dyana Gaye, Vivian Goffette, Vincent Grass, Marc-André Grondin, Marion Hansel, Mary Jiminez, Reda Kateb, Abdellatif Kechiche, Nadine Labaki, Hugo Latulippe, Tómas Lemarquis, Stefan Liberski, Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, Corinne Masiero, Xabi Molia, Yolande Moreau, Karim Moussaoui, Frédérick Pelletier, Martin Provost, Patrick Quinet, Myriam Rachmuth,Thierry Ragobert, Germinal Roaux, Jean-Yves Roubin, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Claire Simon, Abdellah Taia, Patrick Timsit, Justine Triet, Miguel Valverde, Maud Wyler, and Marc Zinga, among a large guest list.
Spread between the various competitive sections, festival prizes this year were valued at around €80,000. Nadine Labaki led the Official Feature Film Jury, while Grégoire Colin led the Official Short Film Jury. The growing popularity of this event made this 28th edition a major success.
The 2013 Golden Bayard for Best Film was awarded to Child's Pose by Calin Peter Netzer.
Next year's 29th Namur International Francophone Film Festival will be held from October 3-10, 2014.
