09/01/2019 - Belgian director Anke Blondé’s movie is opening the Big Screen Competition at the upcoming International Film Festival Rotterdam

Thirty-seven-year-old Dorien (Kim Snauwaert) seems to have the perfect life. She has two adorable children and a loving and successful husband, while her veterinary practice is booming and is full of small pets – but everything changes abruptly. One day, she discovers that her mother has been having a long-running affair, her husband betrays her by getting too close to a colleague, and the final straw is a lump she finds in her breast. She feels lost, and when she needs someone to talk to, no one is willing to listen. Dorien starts to re-evaluate her life. Was this what she had dreamt of? This will prompt her to make some radical changes so that she will be able to rediscover herself amid the chaos.

This is what Anke Blondé portrays in her debut dramedy, The Best of Dorien B. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anke Blondé
film profile], set to world-premiere and open the Big Screen Competition at the 48^th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Loosely inspired by her own personal experiences, the Belgian director co-penned the script with Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (Zagros [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sahim Omar Kalifa
film profile]), and apart from first-time lead actress Snauwaert, the cast comprises Dirk van Dijck, Katelijne Verbeke, Jelle De Beule and Peter De Graef.

Best of Dorien B. was produced by Dries Phlypo for Belgium’s A Private View, with Marleen Slot for the Netherlands’ Viking Film, and with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Netherlands Film Fund, Casa Kafka Pictures Tax Shelter and Creative Europe. Brussels-based BE For Films is handling the world sales.

Check out our exclusive clip below: