03/06/2024 - Myriam Akheddiou is the heroine of the duo’s first fiction feature, charting the battle embarked upon by a 40-year-old mother

17 May saw Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers wrap filming on their first fiction feature, We Believe You [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte…
film profile], in Brussels. Arnaud Dufeys is known for his short films, namely Atomes, which was his graduate work, Vertiges, which scooped the Audience Award in Namur, and, more recently, Un invincible été, which was presented in a world premiere in the Berlinale. He also made the documentary feature Pour que cela n’arrive plus and has carried projects such as Mathieu Volpe’s An Italian Youth [+see also:
film review
interview: Mathieu Volpe
film profile] - screened in last year’s BRIFF and released in cinemas immediately afterwards – in the role of producer. For her part, Charlotte Devillers trained as a nurse but is now a screenwriter and director. In addition to her first film, We Believe You, she is currently hard at work on her second feature, Plaisir, in league with Arnaud Dufeys once again.

We Believe You charts the battle led by 40-year-old mother called Alice. There can’t be any mistaking: she has to make sure the voices of her children – who are terrified at the idea of seeing their father again - are heard by the judge. But as it stands, it’s Alice and not their father who’s being held to account… The film explores an incredibly modern theme, alongside the question of women’s voices and the legal system’s management of family and domestic abuse.

The Dardenne brothers’ faithful accomplice, Belgian actress Myriem Akheddiou, plays the lead role in the film, after recently starring in It’s Raining Men by Caroline Vignal, Midwives [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léa Fehner
film profile] by Léa Fehner, and Before We Collapse [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alice Zeniter and Benoît Zeniter. She’s also set to appear in season 2 of the TV series Pandora, directed by Vania Leturcq and Savina Dellicour. Another high-calibre actor, Laurent Capelluto, is lending his features to the father in the film, having recently toplined The Little Gang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Salvadori
film profile] by Pierre Salvadori, and Clenched Fists [+see also:
film review
interview: Vivian Goffette
film profile] by Vivien Goffette at the beginning of the year. The judge is played by Flemish actress Natali Broods (Skunk [+see also:
film review
interview: Thibaud Dooms
film profile], Cleo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fien Troch
film profile]) and the children by Ulysse Goffin and Adèle Pinckaers.

Produced by Makintosh Films (a firm created by Arnaud Dufeys and Arnaud Ponthière), the movie enjoys lightweight production support from the Film and Audiovisual Centre, following in the footsteps of films such as It’s Raining in the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon-Daï
film profile] by Paloma Sermon-Daï (awarded the French Touch Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week) and Madly in Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raphaël Balboni & Ann Sirot
film profile] by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (which won 7 Magritte awards). The film enjoys further backing from the Belgian National Lottery, Be TV, RTBF, Proximus and the federal tax shelter initiative via Shelter Prod/ING, and is still awaiting responses regarding potential co-production partners in Flanders.

(Translated from French)