King of the Belgians

"King of the Belgians" is a road movie in which a dormant King gets lost in the Balkans and awakens to the real world. King Nicolas III is a lonely soul who has the distinct feeling he’s living the wrong life. He embarks on a state visit to Istanbul with a British filmmaker, Duncan Lloyd, who has been commissioned by the Palace to shoot a documentary intended to polish the monarch’s rather dull image. The news breaks that Wallonia, Belgium’s southern half, has declared its independence. The King, bursting with purpose, must return home at once to save his kingdom. And for once, he declares, he will write his own damn speech. As they rally to depart, a solar storm strikes the earth causing communications to collapse and airspace to shut down. No phones. No planes. To make matters worse, Turkish security coldly dismisses the King’s suggestion they return home by road. But the King has no intention of waiting out this storm. Lloyd, sniffing an opportunity of historical proportions, hatches a dubious escape plan that involves flowery dresses and singing Bulgarians. Thus begins their undercover odyssey across the Balkans, a journey that’s loaded with wrong turns, startling encounters and moments of fleeting joy.

The directors Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth are most widely acclaimed for their three feature films that they wrote, directed and coproduced together: "Khadak" (Winner of Venice’s Lion of the Future 2006), "Altiplano" (Cannes Critics’ Week 2009) and "The Fifth Season" (Venice Official Competition 2012). Their films appeared in hundreds of festivals and won dozens of distinguished awards. "King of the Belgians" premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2016.