Teodora Mihai Portrait

Source: Agustin Paredes / PR Factory

Teodora Mihai

EXCLUSIVE: Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai, whose Heysel 85 has its world premiere as a Berlinale Special Gala this week, is now working on a dark relationship drama, Two Lives (Deux Vies).

The project is scripted by Belgian writer-actress Natali Broods, who will also play the leading role. The co-writer is Ans Vroom. Hans Everaert of Belgian independent film and TV production outfit Menuetto is producing, and coproducers are set to include Topkapi in the Netherlands and the Dardenne brothers’ Les Films du Fleuve in Belgium.

The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) has provided production support.

Two Lives is the story of a couple in their middle age with two young daughters. They go on holiday together with the husband’s brother and his family in the south of France. The husband dies in a car crash. In the aftermath, his grieving wife begins an affair with the brother as a way to cope with the loss.

“It’s a mix of raw emotions and the physical side of it, how to cope with the loss and go on living. It’s not an easy path,” said Everaert.

Heysel 85 is sold by Berlin and Paris-based Salaud Morisset. The drama is set around the events before the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus at the Heysel Stadium in 1985. Violence broke out between fans, 39 people were killed but the match was still played.

The story focuses on the mayor’s daughter, who is also his head of PR, and an Italian journalist who has close family members attending the game in section Z, the part of the ground charged at by the Liverpool fans. The cast is led by Violet Braeckman, Matteo Simoni andJosse De Pauw.