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KARLOVY VARY 2009 Belgium

Angel at Sea depicts a searing family tableau

by 

Frédéric Dumont left the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with the Crystal Globe for Best Feature Film and €21,531 ($30,000) for his feature debut Angel at Sea [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a gripping and often bitter portrayal of a young boy's gradual understanding of his father's mental illness.

Dumont says the film is not autobiographical but that he drew on his own experiences growing up with a manic-depressive father. “His mental state was always changing,” the director said. And although his father's behavior was disruptive, the family never talked about it. “I thought it was normal to have a father like this,” he said.

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The film stars Olivier Gourmet (The Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) as the tortured father and Anne Consigny (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, John Rabe [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) as his wife. Gourmet's performance earned him the Best Actor Award, which he shared ex aequo with Paul Giamatti. Martin Nissen, 14, makes his film debut in the role of the boy Louis.

Aside from its frank portrayal of mental illness and masterful performances, the film also succeeds on the strength of mesmerizing cinematography by Virginie Saint Martin (I Am From Tito Veles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile
]
).

Angel at Sea screened in world premiere at Karlovy Vary. Lhoest says the film does not yet have an international sales agent, owing to its difficult subject matter, but hopes that the awards will help change that.

It will be released towards the end of this year in Belgium, by Imagine Film Distribution, and in Canada by Alliance. Colifilms Distribution will release the film in France early next year. Other territories are open.

The film’s producer, Stéphane Lhoest, said he is working with Dumont on the director's next project, Animal, which will shoot at an undetermined date “in the north.”

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