Charbon

BE CURIOUS

One Thursday a month, the Palace invites you to discover Belgian cinema. Never-before-seen or heritage titles by Belgian filmmakers.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director.

CHARBON

Manu Riche

BE, 91′, 2025, VO ST FR/NL

Synopsis: CHARBON depicts how Europe was built on fossil fuels over the past 100 years. And how it was torn apart by wars that were the result of these same fossil fuels. During 3 trips to Ukraine, Italy and Iraq, filmmaker Manu Riche explains how he and his French-German family are inseparably connected to the fate of the Iraqi filmmaker and refugee Hayder Helo.

“In Charbon the director inspects his feelings of guilt over his family’s history of business ties to the coal and fossil fuel industries, conscious that the success they achieved has underwritten his ability to become a filmmaker. The irony deepens as the film unfolds, implicating us all, with Riche becoming a stand-in for all who are caught in a civilization that does what it has to do to, by any means necessary, to keep the lights on and the wheels whirring.” (David Robbins)