KASSABLANKA 
Dir : Guy Lee Thys

When 17 year old Leila, the daughter of a conservative Muslim household, falls in love with Berwout, the 19 year old son of the neo-facist neighbours, things can only go wrong.

Guy Lee Thys and Ivan Boeckmans' Kassablanka is an often hilarious and politically incorrect story reliving the days leading up the day leading up to the 2000 general elections in Belgium, also known as 'Black Sunday'.

'What we wanted to show in this film is that the leaders of both clans, the two fathers, are actually mirror images of each other', expains producer Guy Lee Thys who co-directed the film with newcomer Ivan Boeckmans. 'We did not want to stigmatise specific parts of the population. Instead, this film should be seen as an entertaining portrait of the multicultural society we are part of nowadays'.

This opinion was not shared by everyone. Although most Belgian film critics were pleasantly surprised by KASABLANKA, even describing it as a 'Ken Loach and Mike Leigh the Flemish way' with 'touching moments and beautifully depicted characters', the film was met with heavy protest from the Muslim community. There was even some disturbance after the filmmakers and some of the lead actors participated in a debat following the screening of the film.

The film, both sometimes hilarious and politically incorrect, is set in KASABLANKA a popular multi-ethnic district in Antwerp. The makers however want to underline that, although set in Antwerp, it's a universal story.

'We have gone through lots of research before writing the script. In fact, we worked the other way around on this film. After most actors were cast, we brought them together to improvise. This eventually led to a screenplay'.

The result as one critic wrote, 'an in your face picture' which at the seam time is beautiful and horrendous, innocent and hyper cynical, mean and sweet, evilly funny and serious. It shows authenticity'.