Tag Archive for: Reel Suspects
Breaking News: CINEUROPA // EXCLUSIVE: Reel Suspects bets on The Belgian Wave
EXCLUSIVE: Reel Suspects bets on The Belgian Wave
The French sales agent will present in Cannes the market premiere of the new film from Belgian filmmaker Jérôme Vandewattyne, a psychedelic road trip with waves of UFOs
The test flight for an American stealth plane? A hoax? A meteorological phenomenon? Or collective hallucination? No hypothesis could be confirmed. Thirty years on, the wave of Belgian UFOs still remains unexplained. Is the truth elsewhere? With The Belgian Wave [+] by Jérôme Vandewattyne (who made a mark in 2017 with the self-produced Spit’n’Split [+]), French international sales agency Reel Suspects — headed by Matteo Lovadina — will be presenting at the Marché du Film (16 to 24 May) of the 76th Cannes Film Festival the market premiere of a feature film very much in line with its “elevated genre” editorial line.
Standing out in the cast of The Belgian Wave are Karen de Paduwa, Karim Barras and Dominique Rongvaux. Written by the director together with Jérôme di Egidio and Kamal Messaoudi, the script centres on Karen who, with the help of Elzo, investigates a wave of UFO sightings which took place in Belgium between 1989 and 1992. The two protagonists embark on a psychedelic road trip, meeting with exuberant witnesses from that time. When they discover the video diary of Marc, a journalist who disappeared at the time of the ufological phenomena, Karen and Elzo come across a sect that is full of crucial information about the journalist’s disappearance…
Produced by Grégory Zalcman and Alon Knoll for Take Five, the feature film (with cinematography handled by Jean-François Awad) was supported by Centre du Cinéma de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, RTL Belux, Screen.brussels, Voo and Be-tv.
Breaking News: DEADLINE // Reel Suspects Boards Gary Huggins’ Kansas City, Kansas-Set Comedy ‘Kick Me’
Reel Suspects Boards Gary Huggins’ Kansas City, Kansas-Set Comedy ‘Kick Me’
EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based genre specialist Reel Suspects has boarded sales on Gary Huggins’ debut comedy feature Kick Me about a school counsellor whose night takes a comedic-nightmarish turn when he visits Kansas City, Kansas (KCK).
Santiago Vasquez plays the counsellor, who downplays his fears about visiting KCK, to please a prize student who hails from the city, the same night he has promised to surprise his daughter with a pet rabbit after a school concert.
As he crosses the state line from Kansas City, Missouri, his well-intentioned trip unravels when he falls into the crosshairs of a local warlord, setting him on a bizarre trip across the city.
Kick Me is Huggins’s debut feature.
It has taken the filmmaker, who hails from and lives in KCK, a decade to complete the work after it was originally shot in 2012 and selected for the Gotham (then IFP) Narrative Lab in 2013.
Huggins said his original intent had been to make a “quick, fun production” with Vasquez after their successful collaboration on the 2006 short film First Date, which played at Sundance, SXSW and France’s Clermond-Ferrand short film festival.
“Instead, a month of night shoots made everyone insane, the movie imploded and Kick Me began a ten-year crawl to completion interrupted by poverty, lethargy, tinkering, tampering, reshoots, pickups, putdowns, the untimely passing of five cast members and an unquenchable fire to finish the damn thing,” he explained.
The film finally world premiered at San Francisco’s Another Hole in the Head film festival in December and has recently been selected for Brazil’s Fantaspoa film festival, which kicks off this week.
Producers on the film are Betsy Gran and Leone Reeves.
Breaking News: SCREEN DAILY // Reel Suspects scores key deals on erotic drama ‘White River’ (exclusive)
Reel Suspects scores key deals on erotic drama ‘White River’ (exclusive)
The film world premiered in Rotterdam’s Bright Future Competition.
Breaking News: DEADLINE // Reel Suspects Boards Belgian Donald Trump-Inspired Dark Comedy ‘Krump’ – EFM
Reel Suspects Boards Belgian Donald Trump-Inspired Dark Comedy ‘Krump’ – EFM
EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based genre specialist has boarded sales on Belgian black comedy Krump about a down-on-his-luck ex-porn actor who embarks on a seemingly hopeless mission to raise 50,000 euros when his daughter is kidnapped.
The film is the debut feature of French-born, long-time Brussels resident director Cédric Bourgeois after a raft of half a dozen shorts including Laura and Dreamcatchers.
Veteran Belgian actor Jean-Benoit Ugeux stars as the titular Krump who turns to his former acquaintances in the porn world to raise the ransom money in a race against time in the underbelly of Brussels nightlife.
Other cast members include Jean-Jacques Rausin (Death By Death), Babetida Sadjo (Ritueel, Attraction), stunt woman and actress Barbara Hellemans (Corsage, Dumbo) and Ingrid Heiderscheidt (Employee Of The Month).
RELATED: Deadline’s Full EFM Coverage
Bourgeois and Ugeux, and director Xavier Seron co-wrote the screenplay taking inspiration from the figure of President Donald Trump after he was swept from power in the 2020 elections.
Erika Meda and David Borgeaud’s Roue Libre leadproduced. Their previous credits include Sundance 2021 title Mother Schmuckers. Co-producers are Philippe Logie (The Pod Generation, Titane), Tanguy Dekeyser (The Pod Generation, Dalva), Sibylle Seys-Smets (16 Years, Dalva), Ives Swennen (16 Years)
The feature world premiered at the Brussels International Film Festival last summer and makes its market debut at the EFM.
