Best Friend Forever has picked up international rights to Milano, the debut feature from Belgian director Christina Vandekerckhove, and is kicking off sales at the EFM.
The film is about a 12 year-old boy who is able to hear, yet only expresses himself in sign language. As his single father tries to make ends meet he often leaves his son alone with his neighbour. But everything changes when his mother suddenly returns.
Now in post-production, Milano is produced by Jan De Clercq and Annemie Degryse ‘s Lumiere which will also release the film in Benelux. The film stars Flemish star Matteo Simoni, who also starred in Zillion and Gangsta, and newcomer Basil Wheatley.
Vandekerckhove’s documentary Rabot won the audience award at Film Fest Ghent and the Ensor award for best documentary. The filmmaker says her intention was “to make a film about parenthood and friendship, about the power of loyalty and attachment and how this plays a fundamental role within human development.” She called the film “a social drama with a poetic slant.”
Best Friend Forever co-founders Martin Gondre and Charles Bin said Vandekerckhove “managed to craft a deeply moving story with a strong twist, bringing the audience to a unexpected place, submersed in Milano’s perception of the world, complete with an immersive game of sound, along with a conscious description of society, recalling early films from the Dardenne brothers.”
Best Friend Forever’s EFM line-up also includes Min Bahadur Bham’s Shambhala, the first Nepalese film to be selected in Berlin’s Competition, and Bruce LaBruce’s edgy Panorama-premiering title The Visitor, a tribute to Pier Pasolini’s classic Teorema, with a pornographic twist.
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