We’re kicking off our Summer Cinema series with a very special evening in collaboration with the General Delegation of Wallonia-Brussels in Spain! On Thursday, July 9th, you can discover the Belgian film “L’Art d’être heureux” by Stefan Liberski at 10 pm in the upper courtyard of the Institut Français in Madrid (Calle Marqués de la Ensenada, 12). Ticket price: six euros (reservations required). This comedy explores the search for happiness through creativity and deep human relationships. Before the screening, you can enjoy the lovely weather in the courtyard of the Institut’s Café, with savory and sweet treats, drinks, and cocktails to suit all tastes.
“The Art of Being Happy”
Jean-Yves Machond, a conceptual painter whose career was quickly cut short after a series of setbacks, decides to leave Brussels and his teaching job to settle in Étretat. A place that embodies Impressionism par excellence, he intends to find the inspiration there to give the world his masterpiece, which will finally bring him glory and eternal recognition. The problem is that he only has the idea of the concept… Between Bagnoule, a bon vivant, naive, and warm figurative painter who will pull him out of his lethargy with his affability, and the “charming” Cécile de Maupré, a gallery owner and manipulator who will disrupt his concentration, his encounter with the locals will prove decisive for the realization of his project. Reality is when you get a wake-up call…
Stefan Liberski
Stefan Liberski, born in 1951 in Brussels, is a Belgian director, writer, humorist, and comic book scriptwriter. A graduate in Art History, he met Federico Fellini in Italy, who invited him to participate in the filming of “La Città delle Donne” as a volunteer assistant. In 2005, his first feature film, “Bunker Paradise,” produced by Artémis, premiered. Author of ten novels, he received the Félix Denayer Prize from the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium in 2019. In 2024, he directed “L’Art d’être heureux” starring Benoît Poelvoorde, François Damiens, and Camille Cottin, inspired by a novel by Jean-Philippe Delhomme.
