Belgian film warms hearts at festival in India

Belgian film Altiplano made for a heart-warming evening at Chandigarh’s European Film Festival, writes the Times Of India. Altiplano, directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, tells the tale of a war photographer, Grace, who is devastated by a violent incident in Iraq and renounces her profession. Her husband, Max, is a cataract surgeon working in an eye clinic in the High Andes of Peru. Residents of a nearby village succumb to illnesses caused by mercury spillover from a local mine. Saturnina, a young woman, loses her fiancé as a result. The villagers turn their rage on foreign doctors and in the ensuing riot, Max is killed. Saturnina takes drastic measures to protest against the endless violations towards her people and their land. Grace sets out on a journey of mourning to the place of Max's death. The 18th edition of the European Union Film Festival focuses on stories of 'women of wisdom, beauty and power’. It offers the city’s film lovers an opportunity to watch a selection of 24 films that have not yet been screened in the country. Altiplano was originally premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2009.