100th anniversary UCPB-UBFP: Daens & Le Diable au Corps

Since 2006, it has carried on the mission of the APPCB, founded in 1925, by highlighting cinema in the media, fostering solidarity among its members, and awarding distinctions such as the annual Grand Prix and the Humanum Prize.

On the occasion of the UPCB’s centenary in 2025, CINEMATEK joins the celebration by inviting members of the Union to present, throughout the year, on the third Thursday of each month, a selection of 12 films awarded by UPCB journalists since the association’s inception. The first screening will take place on January 23, 2025, with Daens by Stijn Coninx.

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To mark the start of this anniversary, UPCB members have chosen to highlight a cornerstone of Belgian heritage: Daens by Stijn Coninx. Freddy Sartor, journalist for Filmagie, explains the rationale behind this choice:

"A meticulously reconstructed historical drama by Stijn Coninx, based on the renowned book Pieter Daens by Louis Paul Boon.
This compellingly narrated social epic, set in late 19th-century Aalst, addresses poverty, child labor, exploitation, abuse, and the resistance to these injustices led by Father Daens. Returning to his hometown, Adolf Daens became the embodiment of the fight for significant improvements in the living conditions of ordinary people. His struggle, later known as Daensism, even evolved into an independent political movement. Initially, Robbe De Hert was supposed to adapt the book for the screen, but the production faced numerous obstacles. The addition of a love story to the social narrative finally allowed the project to materialize. The workers' epic, an immense success in Flemish cinemas, was also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category."

The screening of Daens will take place on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM. The film, shown in its version restored by CINEMATEK in 2017, will be preceded by an introduction in Dutch by Freddy Sartor and Stijn Coninx.

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On Thursday, February 27, the second film in the spotlight will be Le Diable au Corps by Claude Autant-Lara. Richard Harris, journalist for The Brussels Times, elaborates:

"In 1947, the Association Professionnelle de la Presse Cinématographique Belge (the precursor to the UPCB) launched the Festival Mondial du Film et des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, held in June at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Participants included Claude Autant-Lara, Gérard Philipe, Micheline Presle, Sarah Churchill, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Gregory Peck, Trevor Howard, Jean Marais, and Stewart Granger.
The event caused an immediate uproar following the screening of Le Diable au Corps, directed by Claude Autant-Lara. The film marked a turning point in Gérard Philipe’s career, solidifying his success in France while earning him international recognition.
In a 2010 interview with Le Soir, Micheline Presle, Philipe’s co-star in the film, recalled: "At one moment during the screening, probably during a bedroom scene, the French ambassador stood up and exclaimed, 'This is outrageous, it’s a disgrace!' Then he stormed out, slamming the door. In my memory, it caused a significant diplomatic incident".
The film was criticized for its perceived glorification of adultery and promotion of antimilitarism. However, Jean Cocteau, after watching the film, wrote: "You love the characters, you love that they love each other, and you despise, along with them, the war and the public’s relentless persecution of happiness"."