Until 8 November, Burgundy and the Brussels region will play host to Serge Mirzabekiantz as he shoots his first fiction feature, Le Coeur Noir des Forêts [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Serge Mirzabekiantz
scheda film], a teenage drama starring two promising young actors, Quito Rayon Richter and Elsa Houben.

Previous to this first feature, the Belgian filmmaker made a name for himself with his short work The Birds’ Blessing, which was screened at a number of festivals. In Le Coeur Noir des Forêts, he follows the meanderings of 15-year-old Nikolaï who spends his life passed between care homes and foster families. Alone and haunted by the reasons for his abandonment, he dreams of starting a family of his own. When the intriguing and outspoken 16-year-old Camille turns up at his care home, Nikolaï convinces her to leave and to live with him in the forest.

While the part of Nikolaï is played by a newcomer (Quito Rayon Ichter), it’s the young Belgian actress Elsa Houben who steps into the shoes of Camille, having recently been seen in Love At Second Sight [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and Mad Mom [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], not to mention Barrage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Schroeder
scheda film].

Photography has been entrusted to the Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej, whose star is continuing to rise. Having already bagged the Best Photography Magritte two years ago for In Syria [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Philippe Van Leeuw
scheda film], she had no less than three films in Cannes this year (including the Golden Camera champion Our Mothers [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cesar Diaz
scheda film] by Cesar Diaz) and has just been awarded the Bayard award for Best Photography at the Namur International Francophone Film Festival, for her work on By the Name of Tania [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mary Jimenez, Bénédicte Li…
scheda film] by Mary Jimenez and Bénédicte Liénard.

Le Coeur Noir des Forêts, co-produced in France by Sacrebleu, is produced in Belgium by Hélicotronc, a company created 17 years ago. Hélicotronc, which made its name producing The Break, the first series to have come out of the huge revival of series in French-speaking Belgium, will soon be releasing another first feature film: A Moonstruck Life [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Raphaël Balboni e Ann Sirot
scheda film] by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (see our article).