17 May saw Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers wrap filming on their first fiction feature, We Believe You [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Arnaud Dufeys e Charlotte …
scheda film], in Brussels. Arnaud Dufeys is known for his short films, namely Atomes, which was his graduate work, Vertiges, which scooped the Audience Award in Namur, and, more recently, Un invincible été, which was presented in a world premiere in the Berlinale. He also made the documentary feature Pour que cela n’arrive plus and has carried projects such as Mathieu Volpe’s An Italian Youth [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mathieu Volpe
scheda film] - screened in last year’s BRIFF and released in cinemas immediately afterwards – in the role of producer. For her part, Charlotte Devillers trained as a nurse but is now a screenwriter and director. In addition to her first film, We Believe You, she is currently hard at work on her second feature, Plaisir, in league with Arnaud Dufeys once again.

We Believe You charts the battle led by 40-year-old mother called Alice. There can’t be any mistaking: she has to make sure the voices of her children – who are terrified at the idea of seeing their father again - are heard by the judge. But as it stands, it’s Alice and not their father who’s being held to account… The film explores an incredibly modern theme, alongside the question of women’s voices and the legal system’s management of family and domestic abuse.

The Dardenne brothers’ faithful accomplice, Belgian actress Myriem Akheddiou, plays the lead role in the film, after recently starring in It’s Raining Men by Caroline Vignal, Midwives [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Léa Fehner
scheda film] by Léa Fehner, and Before We Collapse [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Alice Zeniter and Benoît Zeniter. She’s also set to appear in season 2 of the TV series Pandora, directed by Vania Leturcq and Savina Dellicour. Another high-calibre actor, Laurent Capelluto, is lending his features to the father in the film, having recently toplined The Little Gang [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pierre Salvadori
scheda film] by Pierre Salvadori, and Clenched Fists [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Vivian Goffette
scheda film] by Vivien Goffette at the beginning of the year. The judge is played by Flemish actress Natali Broods (Skunk [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Thibaud Dooms
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scheda film], Home [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Fien Troch
scheda film]) and the children by Ulysse Goffin and Adèle Pinckaers.

Produced by Makintosh Films (a firm created by Arnaud Dufeys and Arnaud Ponthière), the movie enjoys lightweight production support from the Film and Audiovisual Centre, following in the footsteps of films such as It’s Raining in the House [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paloma Sermon-Daï
scheda film] by Paloma Sermon-Daï (awarded the French Touch Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week) and Madly in Life [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Raphaël Balboni e Ann Sirot
scheda film] by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (which won 7 Magritte awards). The film enjoys further backing from the Belgian National Lottery, Be TV, RTBF, Proximus and the federal tax shelter initiative via Shelter Prod/ING, and is still awaiting responses regarding potential co-production partners in Flanders.