LE OTTO MONTAGNE / THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS

The Eight Mountains is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home. Pietro is a boy from the city, Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, letting their destinies unfold, as Pietro and Bruno discover what it means to be true friends for life.

FELIX VAN GROENINGEN, CHARLOTTE VANDERMEERSCH

Felix van Groeningen (1977, Ghent, Belgium) studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) and graduated in 2000 with a Masters of Audiovisual Arts, his masters thesis was the short film 50CC. He embarked on a long-term collaboration with Dirk Impens, originally his professor at KASK, who produced all five of Van Groeningen’s feature films from 2004 to 2016 under his production company Menuet. He enjoyed huge success with The Unfortunates (2009). After standing ovations at Berlinale, Tribeca Film Festival and KVIFF The Broken Circle Breakdownwas (2012) was nominated for an Oscar for The Best Foreign Language Film.

Charlotte Vandermeersch (1983) is a Belgian actress and director. She graduated in 2005 from the Herman Teirlinck Institute in Antwerp as a Master in Dramatic Art. She has played in numerous theater productions with. In 2016 she had a leading role in Belgica directed by Felix Van Groeningen, her husband. The Eight Mountains (2022) is her directorial debut.

Reveiws:

Serene from a distance, but up close riven with the fissures and follies of a friendship that costs both men so much but gives them even more.

Jessica Kiang, Variety

 

A rich, gentle story about a lasting friendship.

Wendy Ide, Screendaily