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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Belgium / France

Serge Mirzabekiantz is shooting his first feature film, Le Coeur Noir des Forêts

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- The Belgian director has commenced filming on his new movie, shored up by two young actors: Quito Rayon Richter and Elsa Houben

Serge Mirzabekiantz is shooting his first feature film, Le Coeur Noir des Forêts
Quito Rayon Richter on the set of Le Coeur Noir des Forêts

Until 8 November, Burgundy and the Brussels region will play host to Serge Mirzabekiantz as he shoots his first fiction feature, Le Coeur Noir des Forêts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Serge Mirzabekiantz
film profile
]
, a teenage drama starring two promising young actors, Quito Rayon Richter and Elsa Houben.

Previous to this first feature, the Belgian filmmaker made a name for himself with his short work The Birds’ Blessing, which was screened at a number of festivals. In Le Coeur Noir des Forêts, he follows the meanderings of 15-year-old Nikolaï who spends his life passed between care homes and foster families. Alone and haunted by the reasons for his abandonment, he dreams of starting a family of his own. When the intriguing and outspoken 16-year-old Camille turns up at his care home, Nikolaï convinces her to leave and to live with him in the forest.

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While the part of Nikolaï is played by a newcomer (Quito Rayon Ichter), it’s the young Belgian actress Elsa Houben who steps into the shoes of Camille, having recently been seen in Love At Second Sight [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Mad Mom [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, not to mention Barrage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Schroeder
film profile
]
.

Photography has been entrusted to the Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej, whose star is continuing to rise. Having already bagged the Best Photography Magritte two years ago for In Syria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile
]
, she had no less than three films in Cannes this year (including the Golden Camera champion Our Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesar Diaz
film profile
]
by Cesar Diaz) and has just been awarded the Bayard award for Best Photography at the Namur International Francophone Film Festival, for her work on By the Name of Tania [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mary Jimenez, Bénédicte Lié…
film profile
]
by Mary Jimenez and Bénédicte Liénard.

Le Coeur Noir des Forêts, co-produced in France by Sacrebleu, is produced in Belgium by Hélicotronc, a company created 17 years ago. Hélicotronc, which made its name producing The Break, the first series to have come out of the huge revival of series in French-speaking Belgium, will soon be releasing another first feature film: A Moonstruck Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raphaël Balboni & Ann Sirot
film profile
]
by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (see our article).

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(Translated from French)

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