“There are regulations for milk, bread and fruit, but not for financial products. People don’t understand that”
Former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, now head of the liberal party in the European Parliament
“I’ve done more training than ever before. I scared myself. I’ve never had the chance to train for seven months at a stretch”
Kim Clijsters prepares for her comeback match, before going on to win the US Open
“We are on our way into the unknown. Greetings, and see you soon”
A letter written by Antwerp tailor Izak Alternhaus as he was transported to Auschwitz, which just arrived in 2009 after 65 years
“Princess Mathilde has an unbelievably good figure. It’s really hard for all these young princesses to be trendy, but in an appropriate way. She’s succeeded perfectly”
British fashion guru Trinny Woodall of Trinny & Susannah
Arts festivals are always a bit of a risk. Faced with a programme spread over days or even weeks, the choice can become overwhelming. Often the works are relatively unknown, and you wonder guiltily if it might not be better to go for a safer option elsewhere. But no risk, no revelation, and so this year I threw myself into the festival scene. Without a doubt the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels came up trumps.
The most powerful stage performance I saw in 2009 was part of this festival: Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment (pictured), which tackled head on the subject of black American identity politics. Fast-paced and funny, it started out by subjecting the audience to a bombardment of stereotypical black images. The allblack cast then quickly changed pace with a haunting a capella, leading into a starkly different setting – a middle-class dinner party. The thought-provoking work made me laugh at times, feel uncomfortable at others. Brilliant.
The most effective venue also premiered during Kunstenfestivaldesarts: a large, brightly coloured tent on the Nieuwe Graanmarkt, in the shape of an onion dome and specially designed for the documentary film Moscow. Inside, the audience followed the high-tech screens around the tent as they listened to Muscovites talk about the status of money, Gay Russia and the Russian soul. Anna Jenkinson
Although they’d been around several years and produced two albums, it was the third, Here We Go Again, that made Lady Linn and Her Magnificent Seven a household name this year in Flanders. This is no doubt a huge compliment to Lien De Greef, aka Lady Linn, considering that this is the first record with her own material – a blend of retro jazz and bouncing swing. Ironically, it was the album’s one cover, “I Don’t Wanna Dance”, that has driven the fans wild.
Still, it’s hard to imagine this is bothering De Greef too much. Here We Go Again made it to number 2 on the Belgian album charts, has stayed in the charts for 94 straight weeks and gone gold. She and her sevenpiece orchestra were booked all year long – there was hardly a summer festival in Flanders that didn’t put them on the bill, including the grand-daddy of them all: Rock Werchter. She told a Flanders Today correspondent last month that playing it was “one of the most beautiful days of my life”.
Enjoy the album – Lady Linn and Her Magnificent Seven won’t be playing live again until next autumn. Lisa Bradshaw
This year saw the Flemish film Loftbecome the biggest-grossing Belgian film of all time. Those who love the film noir feel and the cast of cute men are not asking why. Others, who are more fond of the social realism of typical Belgian cinema, are. But it’s not really difficult to see how Loft claimed the top spot.
Loft is a sleek crime-drama that can appeal to anyone: those who view cinema as an art form do not abstain from cinema-as-mindless-entertainment, certainly not on a rainy Sunday afternoon. And then those who, shall we say, prefer mindless entertainment are joining them in the queue. Loft is also the kind of film that reveals its big twist at the end – the kind of twist that makes you want to go back and see the beginning again. Guess what? People did.
And Loft is not a bad film, after all. The photography is excellent, the cast of Flemish stars convivial and the story – cheating husbands get themselves into a mess of trouble – satisfying.
But the year had a few other films to recommend it. Flemish director Fien Troch released her second feature, Unspoken, the sensitive story of a couple’s struggle to deal with the disappearance of their daughter. Brendan and the Secret of Kells, meanwhile, is an animated film co-produced in Flanders, with astonishing detail and a misty Gothic atmosphere.
More recently, My Queen Karo, another second film – this time by Dorothée Van Den Berghe – is an insightful peek inside the lives of a counter-culture family of squatters in 1970s Amsterdam. And, of course, there’s De helaasheid der dingen (The Misfortunates), Felix Van Groeningen’s new movie, adapted from the best-selling autobiographical novel by Flemish author Dimitri Verhulst. Still in cinemas and highly recommended. Lisa Bradshaw
Flanders Today is a 
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