Best of
Belgium

2008

In Bruges


Martin McDonagh - 2008
    After a shooting in London goes hideously wrong, two hitmen, Ray and Ken, are sent to hide out in the strange, Gothic, medieval town of Bruges, Belgium, by their volatile and dangerous boss, Harry Waters.While awaiting instructions from him as to what to do next, the pair attempt to deal both with their feelings over the botched killing and their differing attitudes towards this curious, otherworldly place they've been dumped in ('Bruges is a shithole.' 'Bruges is not a shithole'), until the call from Harry finally comes through, and all three men are enmeshed in a spiral of bloody violence that few will get out of alive.This jet-black comedy marks the feature-film debut of writer/director Martin McDonagh, award-winning author of such plays as The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman, and the film Six Shooter, which won the Academy Award for the Best Live-Action Short Film.The film stars Colin Farrell as Ray, Brendan Gleeson as Ken, and Ralph Fiennes as Harry.In Bruges was the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival.

In This Hospitable Land


Lynmar Brock Jr. - 2008
    With a staunch belief that the only way to survive a war is on a farm, Severin ignores the criticism of his friends and neighbors to move his family as far from the Belgian border as possible, knowing that the Germans will easily invade the tiny country. Given a Buick for the trip by his father-in-law, André, his family, his brother's family and his parents, pile in the car and flee across the border to France just days ahead of the Nazi invasion of Belgium. Seeking survival and a meaningful God, André leads his family deep into the Cévennes Mountains of the south of France. Non-practicing but part of a large Jewish family, they find protection among the Protestant Huguenots. When the Gestapo orders the arrest of the Severins, the French Marquis hides the family as Andr? joins the Resistance. In This Hospitable Land is a tale of simple courage and the depths of human compassion in a time of horror.

Paper Illusions: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave


Barbara Stoeltie - 2008
    Their historical authenticity, combined with their startling realism, caused an overnight sensation when they were first shown in France in 1998 as “papiers à la mode.” Since then, the dynamic, light-hearted collection has traveled all over the world to critical and popular acclaim. Paper Illusions does full justice to De Borchgrave’s magical workshop, where paper is cut, folded, and painted on the way to being transformed into shimmering visions of beautiful clothing and luxurious living.  In Rene Stoeltie’s vivid photographs, figures from the history of style seem to breathe in atmospheric rooms, while details of color, pattern, and form jump off the page. It is a publishing event of unprecedented creativity, wit, and elegance.

Prisoner Of War: Voices from Behind the Wire in the Second World War


Charles Rollings - 2008
    Waged against boredom, brutality, disease, hunger and despair, it was a battle for survival, fought without the aid of weapons against fully armed enemy captors. Based on interviews and correspondence with ex-POWs and their relatives over the last 25 years, Prisoner of War is a major survey of Allied POWs from all walks of life. Extraordinary stories of extremes – courage, hope and desperation are revealed in the words of those that were there. Arranged chronologically, the book follows those involved from capture, through interrogation, imprisonment, escape, to final liberation and homecoming. Rich with incident and emotion, Prisoner of War is a compelling look at the lives of extraordinary individuals behind the wire.

Fly Now!: The Poster Collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum


Joanne Gernstein London - 2008
    The posters—most of them never before published—feature barnstormers, gliders, and flying boats, the earliest passenger flights, the first luxury-liners, mail carriers, jets, and much more. Spanning a century and a half, they combine the popular art and the commerce of their eras, with both explored in the entertaining, informative text by a longstanding National Air and Space Museum curator. From 19th-century circus impresarios offering rides in gaudy hot-air balloons to the sleek 21st-century airliners, the posters provide a fascinating illustrated history of flight as it evolved from an exotic realm inhabited only by visionaries and daredevils into our modern world of speedy jets and frequent flyers—no longer extraordinary, perhaps, but still echoing with the exhilarating thrill and glamorous excitement captured here.Countless visitors to the museum’s traveling poster exhibition and the permanent exhibition "America by Air" will delight in the gorgeous and wonderful graphics collected in this appealing, affordable book—and so will aviation buffs, armchair travelers, and poster connoisseurs everywhere.