Rémy Belvaux

Rémy Belvaux (Namur, Belgium; November 10, 1967-Orry-la-Ville, September 5, 2006) was a Belgian actor, director, producer and filmmaker. He was the director and actor of the film C'est arrivé près de chez vous (It happened near your house) in 1992 and one of the four participants in the stabbing of Bill Gates on February 4, 1998, together with Noël Godin.

He was the brother of Lucas Belvaux, also an actor and film director, and Bruno Belvaux, a theater director.

Biography

From 1982 to 1984, Rémy Belvaux attended the comic strip workshop at the Academy of Fine Arts in the town of Châtelet, near Charleroi (also known as Leonardo workshop). At the same time, he continued his secondary studies in drawing at the Félicien Rops Institute in Namur.

Rémy Belvaux was determined to follow in the footsteps of his brother Lucas, but he did not feel like an actor. On the other hand, both at the level of drawing and script, Rémy demonstrated indisputable talent. During 1984, he worked on a crazy synopsis about his mother's lover that he intended to draw in the style of Yves Swolfs. The Durango comic strip was one of his favorites and Rémy appreciated the design and narrative framework.

Through one of his brothers, Bruno met Benoît Poelvoorde. The friendship was “fusional” with him.

Rémy Belvaux studied animation for a year at La Cambre art school, before joining Insas, a higher film school, dependent on the French Community of Belgium, in Brussels. It was there where he met André Bonzel and met again. with Benoît Poelvoorde, then a student at the School of Graphic Research (ERG). Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel co-directed, in 1987, a parody short film Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel with Benoît Poelvoorde.

At the beginning of the 90s, they re-edited the experience, filming in black and white, 16 mm inflated to 35 mm for its presentation in Cannes and for a relatively ridiculous budget (it was an extended final year project) C& #39;est arrived près de chez vous ("It happened near your house"), mockumentary full of black humor and cynical parody of the famous Belgian documentary television program Strip-Tease . The film tells the story of a television crew, whose journalist is Rémy Belvaux, who follows step by step Ben, a hitman played by Benoît Poelvoorde, whose bloody pilgrimages are peppered with disconcerting aphorisms. The film was a success in 1992. At Cannes Critics' Week and, despite controversies over its violence, it would quickly become a cult film. Bonzel, cameraman, and Poelvoorde, actor, are also credited with making it to claim common work, but Belvaux is the true director of the film. He was bothered by the fact that he was relegated to the background while Poelvoorde was in high demand and at the same time he would launch his career.

He reunited with Benoît Poelvoorde, but as an actor, in the television series Les Carnets de Monsieur Manatane.

On February 4, 1998, he was part of a group of four people (along with Noël Godin and Jan Bucquoy), who were fined for throwing a cream pie in the face of the American businessman and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, the same one who was visiting Brussels at that time.

Rémy Belvaux then dedicated himself to directing advertising films for Quad Productions. There he became one of the most active and creative directors, signing a large number of spots in ten years.

Death

Rémy Belvaux committed suicide on September 4, 2006 at the age of 39 by throwing himself under a train in Orry-la-Ville.

Filmography

Several student films including 475° Fahrenheit (1 minute 39 seconds) in 1986 and L'Amant de Maman, with Benoît Poelvoorde in the role of the lover, in 1987.

• 1987: Pas de C4 pour Daniel, short film, directed with André Bonzel, with Benoît Poelvoorde and Lucas Belvaux.
• 1992: C'est arrivé près de chez vous (It happened near your house.), directed with André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde.