25/09/2025 - The Belgian director’s new project is an ambitious historical film about a key moment in his country’s resistance movement, starring Arieh Worthalter in the lead role

Michael R Roskam, the Flemish filmmaker of international renown discovered in 2011 by way of Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile], nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, later selected in competition in San Sebastián via his American production The Drop, and then out of competition in Venice via Racer and the Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Roskam
film profile], is returning with Le Faux Soir, a new and especially ambitious project, produced for the very first time by a Walloon company and starring a predominantly Francophone cast.

Le Faux Soir looks back on one of the most audacious acts of resistance in Belgium during the Second World War: the publication of a fake edition of the newspaper Le Soir, a satirical pastiche which openly ridiculed the Nazi occupiers. It’s a historical subject, but it’s more topical than ever given that freedom of expression, the independence of the press and the flood of fake news are currently on many people’s minds. "During the Nazi invasion of Belgium, on 10 May 1940 the press was shut down and placed under occupier control. In Brussels, this impacted the most-read paper in the country, Le Soir. Its young owner, Marie-Thérèse Rossel, refused to work under German censorship and went into exile with her family in France. Hijacked by the Nazis, Le Soir became a propaganda tool for Hitler and the Gestapo. The film follows in the footsteps of a group of resistance fighters who risked their lives to carry out one of the most courageous acts in the history of the underground press," explained the director, who also penned the screenplay in collaboration with Bernard Falaise.

It turns out that Arieh Worthalter will play Marc "Yvon" Aubrion, the film’s hero who takes us on a suspense-filled adventure. The crème de la crème of Belgian cinema will be supporting the French-Belgian actor (awarded the Best Actor César for The Goldman Case [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile], since seen in Who By Fire [+see also:
film review
interview: Philippe Lesage
film profile] and in the series The Confidante), including the unmissable Bouli Lanners (recently seen in Smoke Signals [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and François Damiens (recently gracing Child of True Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), alongside the young and ever-rising actress Mara Taquin (nominated for five Magritte trophies, recently seen in On the Edge [+see also:
film review
interview: Guérin Van de Vorst, Sophie…
film profile] and Rano, and soon appearing in Nino dans la nuit), Jean-Benoît Ugeux (who walked away with the Best Supporting Role Magritte for Racer and the Jailbird and whom we saw this year in The Stranger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile]) and Flemish actor Peter Van den Begin (awarded the Best Actor Magritte for King of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Woodworth, Peter Br…
film profile]), not to mention two French heavyweights: Mélanie Thierry (seen this year in Morlaix [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaime Rosales
film profile], Mariana’s Room [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Connemara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex Lutz
film profile]), and Karim Leklou (who scooped the 2025 Best Actor César for Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile] and recently graced The Piano Accident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Quentin Dupieux
film profile]).

Shooting kicked off on 23 September and will continue until 10 December, primarily in Brussels but also in Ghent and Mons, with some shooting taking place in France.

Le Faux Soir is being produced by Cassandre Warnauts and Jean-Yves Roubin on behalf of Frakas Productions (Belgium), in co-production with Rectangle Productions/Goodfellas (Alice Girard and Vincent Maraval) and Harbor Men Pictures (belonging to Michaël R Roskam), in association with Anonymous Federation and Rossel (Bernard Marchant). The feature is co-produced by RTL, Proximus, BeTV and Orange. It enjoys support from the Wallonia Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Eurimages, the Brussels-Capitale region, Wallimage, Screen Flanders, and Tax Shelter, and will be distributed in Belgium by Cinéart.

(Translated from French)