Prolific Belgian filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have just announced that between two shoots for Netflix (the series Soil, co-directed last summer alongside Mathieu Mortlemans – read our news) and Disney + (they’re signing their names to the much anticipated Ms Marvel series), they’re working on a brand new Belgian feature film which is an adaptation of a Dirk Bracke novel, as well as on the project intitled Rebel [+lee también:
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But who is this mysterious author with whom the two filmmakers seem so fascinated? Dirk Bracke is primarily a writer of young people’s fiction, whose books left quite a mark on young Adil El Arbi as a teen.

Black [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], which first brought the directors to the public’s attention back in 2015, was also an adaptation of a book by this author, namely a re-working of Romeo & Juliette relocated to an incredibly modern version of Belgium where rival Brussels gangs came to blows over an impossible love which unfolds between a young woman of Congolese origin and a young man with Moroccan roots.

Straks doet het geen pijn meer (which might be translated as "It will stop hurting soon") earned itself two literary prizes and worked its magic on young Adil, who wrote a letter to the novelist at the time, confessing his dream of becoming a filmmaker with the hope that he might one day bring Bracke’s work to life on screen. And now it’s as good as done!

The screenplay was penned, in French, by Bulle Decarpentries and Adil El Arbi. Dirk Bracke’s book depicts the trauma suffered by a young woman who was sexually abused by her father as a child and who is struggling to adapt to adolescence as she enters into the world of romantic relationships. It’s an incredibly hot topic, which chimes with modern-day life in many respects and with the fundamental problems impacting our society.

Shooting is scheduled to unfold in 2022, with production in the hands of 10.80 Films (owned by Nabil Ben Yadir and Benoît Roland) in co-production with A Team Productions, Los Morros and Les Films du Fleuve (owned by the Dardenne brothers), all of which are Belgian firms.