Belgian Oscar Submission THE MISFORTUNATES Hits Canadian Screens Starting March 19th!

Evokative Films is very pleased to announce the theatrical release of Felix van Groeningen's THE MISFORTUNATES (DE HELAASHEID DER DINGEN). The film will debut in Montreal on March 19th at the AMC Forum Theatre with a Flemish with English subtitles print and at the Cinéma Beaubien with a Flemish with French subtitles print. THE MISFORTUNATES will then go on to play in Toronto from April 9th at the Canada Square Theatre (venue may change), in Ottawa from April 30th at the Mayfair Theatre and in Vancouver from May 14th at the Cinemark Tinseltown Theatre. Other engagements throughout Canada will follow.

Gunther Strobbe is a 13 years old boy who lives in his grandmother's house in a small Belgian town with his alcoholic father and three uncles. Life in the household is clearly dysfunctional, yet it's hard to condemn the Strobbes. Their hearts are in the right place - it's just that they can't seem to help turning everything around them into an unmitigated disaster. The Strobbes enter drinking contests, ride bicycles naked, teach vulgar songs to little girls and end up in hospital, then head right back to the bar the next day. Gunther is an observer in this broken home that reeks of cigarette smoke, spilled beer and sweat-stained clothes. He participates in his drunken uncles' shenanigans only to fit in, hiding his true passion for writing. The Strobbes will make you laugh your eyes out and cry out loud.

THE MISFORTUNATES was chosen to represent Belgium in the race for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2010 Oscars. It was also 2009's biggest box-office hit of Belgium. The film had its World Premiere in the Director's Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, where it got a special mention from the Art Cinema Jury. It then went on to play at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Hamptons Film Festival, where it got the Awards for Best Film, Best Script and Best Cinematography and the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montréal, amongst many others. It has also been selected to be part of the programming of the upcoming Outaouais Film Festival, where it will screen with French subtitles on March 13th and 15th.