From 15 to 30 April 2025, Youna Rault and film club Contre-plongée are organising a retrospective on Jocelyne Saab in cooperation with l’Association Jocelyne Saab, highlighting her early and lesser-known work, which will take place at la Filmothèque du Quartier Latin and the cinema 3 Luxembourg in Paris. 

Bozar, in collaboration with CINEMATEK, is hosting Close-up: Souleymane Cissé from 1 to 4 April 2025 to honour the late Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, who passed away on 19 February 2025.

Cinébib est une nouvelle plateforme de streaming lancée le 14 mars 2025 par près de 40 bibliothèques publiques en Flandre et à Bruxelles. Elle offre aux membres des bibliothèques un accès libre à une sélection soigneusement composée de plus de 1 500 films.

On 16 March 2025, Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne passed away at the age of 43.

From Wednesday the 2nd to Sunday the 6th of April, the 24th edition of the Courtisane film festival will take place in Ghent, Belgium. As a platform for film and audiovisual arts, the festival describes its mission to explore “the relationships between image and world, aesthetics and politics, experiment and engagement.”

From 13–16 March, Caillou Film Festival, a new Brussels-based film festival, explores the strategies used in territorial struggles and the role of cinema in resistance.

From 13 to 15 March, Kaaitheater and KANAL-Centre Pompidou are hosting Cinema as Assembly, a three-day study circle that invites the public to come together – as an audience, as thinkers and as makers – to explore cinema’s potential as both a method and medium that can help rehearse collective organisation, militant imagination and liberatory transformation.

Malian director and writer Souleymane Cissé passed away on 19 February in Bamako, Mali, at the age of 84.

Eye Filmmuseum celebrates the legacy of Feministisch Filmkollektief Cinemien (1974–1989), a pioneering film collective that sought to amplify the voices of female filmmakers in the Netherlands. Running from 6 to 25 March, the programme links the collective’s work to urgent contemporary themes, fostering intergenerational discussions on equality.

On 19 February, Quatre nuits d’un rêveur (1971) by Robert Bresson will be re-released in French theatres in a 4K restoration by Carlotta Films.

For its 2025 edition, running from 24 February to 1 March, the Spanish film festival Punto de Vista will present a retrospective dedicated to the cinema of Dutch filmmaker Frans van de Staak.

During the weekend of February 21–23, the itinerant film screening troupe The Theatre of the Matters will host Peasants of the Cinema: António Reis & Margarida Cordeiro, a programme dedicated to the cinema of António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro.

To mark IFFR 2025 and the release of the third and final instalment of Wang Bing’s Youth films, IDFA’s Het Documentaire Paviljoen and IFFR will present Wang Bing’s complete Youth trilogy on Sunday, 9 February.

After the successful retrospective at CINEMATEK in Brussels, Chantal Akerman’s oeuvre moves to London for a complete retrospective in February and March at BFI Southbank.

Courtisane and Sabzian proudly present a new publication dedicated to the cinema of Portuguese filmmakers António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro.

American filmmaker, musician and artist David Lynch (1946-2025) passed away on Wednesday 15 January.

Le Cercle du Laveu, un espace communautaire centenaire situé dans le quartier du Laveu à Liège, se trouve à un tournant critique alors que son bâtiment est mis en vente.

The Belgian documentary filmmaker, editor and lecturer Bram Van Paesschen unexpectedly passed away on Friday 10 January in Brussels, at the age of 45. 

Eye Filmmuseum presents a nationwide release of two digitally restored films by Georgian-born filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov (1903–1973). Both films will be screened in Dutch cinemas starting 9 January and will also be available on Eye Film Player.

En 2025, l’Union de la Presse Cinématographique Belge (UPCB) célèbrera son 100e anniversaire avec un programme de projections spéciales à la CINEMATEK.

In 2025 viert de Unie van de Belgische Filmpers (UBFP) haar 100-jarig bestaan met een speciaal vertoningsprogramma in CINEMATEK.

Sabzian is taking a break. We’ll be back on 6 January. Best wishes and Happy New Year!

As every year, Âge d’Or returns to CINEMATEK for a weekend dedicated to subversive and experimental cinema, taking place on 14 and 15 December. This edition presents a programme of seven sessions organized around three distinct themes.

The State of Cinema event on 11 December has sold out. To meet demand, Loznitsa will deliver his lecture a second time on Thursday, 12 December, at 19:00, prior to the Belgian premiere of his latest film, The Invasion (2024).

In the coming months, CINEMATEK, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut and Sabzian, will present an (almost) complete retrospective of Ulrike Ottinger’s oeuvre – a rare event, as her films have been seldom shown in Belgium over the past half-century.

Op 11 december is Sergei Loznitsa te gast in Bozar voor Sabzian’s jaarlijkse State of Cinema en een Close-up-programma gewijd aan zijn werk. In aanloop van het evenement ging Bozar met hem in gesprek.

Le 11 décembre, Sergei Loznitsa sera invité à Bozar pour la State of Cinema annuelle de Sabzian et un programme Close-up consacré à son œuvre. En préparation de l’événement, Bozar s'est entretenu avec lui.

On December 11, Sergei Loznitsa will be a guest at Bozar for Sabzian’s annual State of Cinema and a Close-up program dedicated to his work. In the lead-up to the event, Bozar spoke with him.

From 14 November to 1 December, Centre Pompidou honours Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel with a retrospective. Martel will present her films, lead a masterclass, and curate a special screening.

Together with Academy SLAC and HIW Filmclub, the Belgian collective R(a/u)pture presents a multi-day programme on 20, 27, 28, and 29 November in the city centre of Leuven, Belgium. The collective welcomes American filmmaker and collage artist Devin Horan as a guest of honour.

Between October 30 and November 3, Filmhuis Cavia in Amsterdam will inaugurate the first edition of the Amsterdam Film Meeting, a diverse new film programme that spans a range of styles, forms, and cinematic schools.

On the occasion of Seeing, Looking, Filming, the Johan van der Keuken retrospective presented by Sabzian and CINEMATEK, Sabzian launches a new print publication. The publication contains Van der Keuken’s original French text ‘Méandres,’ along with translations in Dutch and English.

From 25 October to 8 December, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is organising a retrospective of the cinema of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo.

Until 23 October, the Palestine Film Institute presents Provoked Narratives, a programme featuring ten films made between 1967 and 1984 in various contexts, each using different grammars of resistance, all live and resonant to this day. All films are freely available to stream on the Palestine Film Platform.

Le 9 octobre, Sabzian fête son dixième anniversaire.Pour marquer cet événement, Un chant d’amour (1950) de Jean Genet sera disponible pendant 24 heures dans notre Screening Room le mercredi 9 octobre à partir de 12h00 (CET).

Op 9 oktober viert Sabzian haar tiende verjaardag. Ter gelegenheid van die verjaardag is Un chant d’amour (1950) van Jean Genet 24 uur te zien in onze Screening Room op woensdag 9 oktober vanaf 12u00 (MET).

On October 9, Sabzian celebrates its tenth anniversary. To mark our anniversary, Un chant d’amour (1950) by Jean Genet will be available for 24 hours in our Screening Room on Wednesday, October 9 from 12h00 (CET).

Film Fest Gent, in its 51st edition this year, will host a retrospective and director’s talk with Brussels-based Palestinian filmmaker Michel Khleifi on October 10th.

Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul is the guest of honour for the Centre Pompidou's 2024-2025 season. Starting on October 2, the Centre will host a comprehensive retrospective and exhibition on the work of the Thai filmmaker.

On the occasion of the appearance of Rebekah Rutkoff’s new book, Double Vision: The Cinema of Robert Beavers (2024), Anthology Film Archives presents the first comprehensive U.S. retrospective of Beavers’s work from September 26 to 29.

From 26 to 29 September, the second edition of STOM!, a film festival dedicated to silent film, will take place in Bruges.

The sixth edition of SHHH, the festival that celebrates the power and poetry of silent film, hosted by Monokino, will take place in Ostend from 13 to 14 September. This 6th edition is dedicated to The Social Life of Film, an international gathering of nomadic film platforms from various corners of the world.

The Cinémathèque du documentaire at the Bibliothèque publique d’information of Centre Pompidou will showcase the complete filmography of Frederick Wiseman, screening all 46 of his films between September 2024 and March 2025 at the Centre Pompidou.

Bozar has invited Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul to Brussels for a Close-up program, where he will present his first-ever performative VR project, showcase a selection of his films and film choices, and engage in a conversation about his work.

French independent cinephile label Capricci is re-releasing sixteen films by Chantal Akerman in French cinemas, alongside the release of a Blu-ray box featuring Akerman's feature-length and short films – the most complete collection available worldwide to date.

From 4 to 8 September, Frankfurt based festival exf f. - tage des experimentellen films frankfurt is hosting a four-program retrospective of American experimental filmmaker Gregory J. Markopoulos, one of the most idiosyncratic and influential figures of avant-garde and experimental film in the post-war period.

Sabzian is going into summer mode. During July and August, Sabzian will publish at a reduced pace. We'll be back to full speed in September!

To mark the beginning of our summer break, we offer you an overview of the texts we have published over the past year, which we hope will end up on your summer reading list!

The sun is out and so is the cinema-goer. Here is a list of cinema events for the summer (mostly outdoors), so you don’t have to miss the silver screen in the summer break.

In collaboration with Another Gaze Editions, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London presents a full retrospective of Marguerite Duras’ work. The retrospective will include her shorts, features and televisual work, alongside several works in literal or theoretical conversation with hers.

L’Atelier de Production du GSARA organise une résidence annuelle invitant un.e artiste sonore artisan et un.e artiste visuel.le spécialisé.e en film analogique (super8, 16mm) à créer un court métrage de 10 à 15 minutes sur la diversité bio-culturelle, en prenant comme point de départ le Marais Wiels à Forest.

An overview of the graduation screenings of the film schools in Flanders and Brussels.

The Harvard Film Archive recently launched a new section called “Conversations” on their website. The conversations are part of The Harvard Film Archive Visiting Artists Collection documenting visitors to the HFA’s cinematheque.

From 8 June to 30 August, Courtisane is hosting the programme We Have Long Been Silent, an expanded version of the programme of the same name presented at the Courtisane festival earlier this year, at CINEMATEK.

Chaque contribution peut nous aider à maintenir nos standards de qualité et nous offre des moyens de rémunérer le travail des bénévoles. Support Sabzian !

Your support can help us maintain our quality standards and provide the means to pay for the work of our volunteers. Support Sabzian!

Uw steun kan ons helpen om onze kwaliteitsnormen te handhaven en ons de middelen te geven om het werk van onze vrijwilligers te vergoeden. Steun Sabzian!

Earlier this month, the Goethe-Institut launched Goethe on Demand, a new streaming platform which presents a variety of online film programs, film festivals and film series that can be streamed from home.

On the weekend of May 25 and 26, Pieter Van Bogaert, critic, programmer and curator, presents Fort Beau at CINEMATEK: a programme made up of a subjective selection of works and artists who reflect on the history of the last fifty years.

Last week, on May 9, the legendary Hollywood producer and filmmaker Roger Corman passed away.

From July 7 to 13, Cinea is organising a new edition of the Zomerfilmcollege, a yearly summer film school taking place in Antwerp that offers seven days to immerse yourself in two film historical themes, through fifteen or so lectures and some twenty film screenings.

From 10 to 24 May, Filmmuseum Eye in Amsterdam is hosting a series of talks, films and events entitled ‘Songs and Scenes from Palestine’, a programme dedicated to the history and cultural identity of the Palestinian people through their own lens, in collaboration with the Palestine Film Institute.

From 27 April to 27 May, the platform for film and audiovisual arts, Courtisane, is presenting a retrospective of the works by Yvonne Rainer at CINEMATEK.

Renowned Italian film critic, historian, filmmaker, actor, book editor, and teacher, Adriano Aprà, passed away last week on April 15th.