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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Belgium

Dominique Deruddere returns with The Chapel

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- The director, Oscar-nominated in 2000 for Everybody’s Famous!, is back with a feature that goes behind the scenes of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth competition

Dominique Deruddere returns with The Chapel
(from left to right) Actresses Taeke Nicolaï and Renée Vanderjeugd, director Dominique Deruddere, actress Ruth Becquart and actor Kevin Janssens

Belgian filmmaker Dominique Deruddere, a key figure in Flemish cinema (whose work includes Everybody's Famous!, nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000, and Wait until Spring, Bandini (1989, an adaptation of John Fante's cult novel), has just started shooting his 10th feature film, The Chapel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Deruddere
film profile
]
.

The film follows the journey of Lia Rogiers, a young virtuoso pianist who takes part in the famous Queen Elisabeth Competition. During this real event, the 12 finalists are isolated in "the chapel" for seven days. All contact with the outside world is forbidden. Lia suffers from the stress of the competition and the isolation. Bad memories from the past resurface...

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Obviously, the world of classical music, and more particularly these international competitions, and the very particular setting of the Queen Elisabeth meeting, offer an ideal arena for a psychological drama under high tension.

The role of Lia is played by the young Antwerp actress Taeke Nicolaï (seen in Yummy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
).
In the role of the parents, Deruddere has chosen two experienced Flemish actors, the talented Ruth Becquart (who is very present on Belgian television, and who was seen in Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile
]
or Brasserie Romantiek [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), and the now unavoidable Antwerp actor Kevin Janssens, who can be seen both in films and on TV in Belgium (he was one of the heroes of the successful Netflix series Undercover, which also featured Ruth Becquart, but also of Patrick [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Tim Mi…
interview: Tim Mielants
film profile
]
, for which he won the Ensor award for Best Actor) and in France (as in Revenge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile
]
, The Room
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Volckman
film profile
]
or Savage State [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
).

The Chapel is produced by Bart Van Langendonck for Savage Film, and co-produced in Wallonia by Tarantula, with the support of the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds (VAF), screen.brussels, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Streamz, Telenet and the Tax Shelter. It will be distributed in Belgium by Paradiso.

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(Translated from French)

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