The Festival’s
Story

A film festival is an intoxicating opportunity for professionals and enthusiasts to live, eat, sleep and dream cinema. It is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a city, meet people and make connections. It’s a spirit, an atmosphere, a feeling.

Liège simply had to have one!

2016

In 2015, Cinélabel ASBL, a non-profit organisation, rolled up its sleeves and began a series of fruitful contacts that would lead to the first Liège International Comedy Film Festival, in 2016: the FIFCL

2017

Bouli Lanners, Daniel Prévost, Dominique Pinon, Éric Judor, Olivier Gourmet, Jaco Van Dormael, Renaud Rutten took part in the first festival. Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Élie Semoun, Gérard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Alex Lutz, Émilie Bierre, Kev Adams, François Berléand, Michaël Youn, Anne Émond, Guillaume de Tonquédec, Michèle Laroque, Patrice Leconte, Gérard Darmon, Xin Wang, Jean-Marie Poiré, Valérie Bonneton and many others would join them over time.

2018

La Comédie, a festive beer named after the film genre which is now hugely popular in Liège, was created in 2018.

2019

The Festival’s TV studio arrived in 2019, at the same time as the inauguration of the Walk of Fame in Rue Pont d’Avroy with its much sought-after tiles.

2020

In the midst of the “covid crisis”, the team throws all its forces into the battle and gathers a 5-star cast, including Nicolas Bedos, Gad Elmaleh, Jackie Chan, Édouard Baer and Karin Viard. The cutter falls at D-12: because of the current health crisis, the FIFCL will not take place. Or not quite. The FIFCL becomes, for one week, the festival of short comedy films, and adds a new member of the jury: the public! A total of 1,618 viewers took up the challenge and voted remotely.

2021

The amazing Professional Meetings have been shaking up preconceived ideas as of 2021: after such a long hiatus, the desire to share knowledge and know-how is stronger than ever. The FIFCL and the Groupement de Redéploiement Économique de Liège (GRE-Liège) have joined forces to bring together a quality panel to finance comedy in Belgium. Screenwriters, producers, representatives of the first Belgian French-speaking public radio and television (RTBF), the GRE-Liège, the Walloon pole dedicated to the film industry (Wallimage), Walloons, Flemish, and French, all of them have overcome their differences relating to territory and culture to establish an exciting and passionate dialogue on the fringes of the FIFCL, with an approach that is always constructive, inquisitive, and good-natured.

2022

Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Tavier and André Bonzel celebrate the 30th anniversary of “C’est arrivé près de chez vous” at the FIFCL, during an unforgettable evening, for them as well as for the people of Liège. They also rush to meet André Dussollier, Karin Viard, Kev Adams, Christian Clavier and Patrick Bruel, who fill the rooms and charm the audience. 2022 is also the year of a strengthened partnership with the CinéComédie Lab of Lille, sponsored by Benoît Mariage, who is completing his residency in the Cité ardente and will speak with conviction at the2nd Professional Meetings. The subject: the role of screenwriters in cinema in general, and comedy in particular.

Over the 6 Festivals, the FIFCL has had 6 presidents

Éric Judor, Gérard Darmon, Mylène Demongeot, Stéphane Guillon, Pascal Légitimus, and Vincent Desagnat.