29/02/2024 - The Belgian actress and director’s debut feature film is produced by Kwassa Films and Paprika Films

This Monday saw filming kick off on Belgian director Bérangère McNeese’s debut feature film Filles du Ciel. An actress for the past ten or so years who was recently seen in Let’s Get Lost [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Pirot
film profile] and discovered by wider French-speaking audiences in the TF1 series HPI: Haut Potentiel Intellectuel and in the Arte and RTBF series Good People, Bérangère McNeese has previously directed three short films, with the most recent, Matriochkas, claiming numerous awards, including the Magritte for Best Short Film in 2020.

In her first feature film, the director follows a group of girls as they navigate the uncertainty of everyday life. One night, Héloïse finds herself alone in a town which isn’t her own, with nowhere to go. She meets Nora who takes her back to her place, which she already shares with a little girl and two other young women. Together they form a tribe where everything is shared and they protect one another. But their code of silence over their past wounds weighs increasingly heavily on these women who are so strong yet so fragile.

The filmmaker has called upon the services of Héloïse Volle to play her heroine, an actress who also played the lead in Volle’s short film Matriochkas. Playing opposite her are three young actresses: Shirel Nataf, who previously appeared in Little Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Lerat-Gersant
film profile], Spare Keys [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and The Snow Must Go On [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; Mona Bérard, known for series such as The Red Band Society and Fugueuse; and Yowa-Angélys Tshikaya in this her first film role. Likewise gracing the credits are Belgian actor Jonas Bloquet (recently seen in Father & Soldier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] as well as in the series 1899 [+see also:
trailer
series profile]) and Belgian actress Anne Coesens (recently starring in The Chapel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Deruddere
film profile] and Headwind).

Last but not least, the film’s director of photography is Olivier Boonjing, who previously collaborated on the director’s short film Le Sommeil des Amazones and whose work was also recently appreciated in The Lost Boys [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zeno Graton
film profile] and Everybody Loves Jeanne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Filles du ciel is produced for Belgium by Annabella Nezri on behalf of Kwassa Films, who have been supporting their filmmakers’ transition to feature films for several years now, including that of Zoé Wittock with Jumbo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zoé Wittock
film profile], Olivier Pairoux with SpaceBoy [+see also:
film review
interview: Olivier Pairoux
film profile], and Eve Duchemin with Time Out [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eve Duchemin
film profile]. Production for France comes courtesy of Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin on behalf of Paprika Films.

The movie enjoys support from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, as well as from the CNC, Pictanovo, Creative Media Europe, Procirep/Angoa, Canal+, Ciné+, RTBF, BeTV, Proximus, and Tax Shelter via Besides Production.

International sales will fall to Be For Films, while distribution in France is entrusted to Memento and Belgian distribution to Cinéart.

(Translated from French)