Coureur
Kenneth Mercken
Synopsis
Felix grows up as an inside spectator of a veterans’ cycling league. A violent, drug-infused world where his father dominates both with pedals and fists. Felix tries to follow in his father’s footsteps and even surpasses his talent. Once he’s grown he signs up for an Italian semi-pro team and although he’s close to becoming a professional rider, Felix discovers that his body does not respond to the widespread miracle drug: EPO. He ends up drained by the brutal training and has no choice left but to accept blood transfusions from his father. Now nothing can stop them, not even the threat of cancer. After all, what is cancer compared to winning the race of your dreams?
Credits
Director – Kenneth Mercken
Writers – Kenneth Mercken & Monica Stan
Producers – Eurydice Gysel & Koen Mortier (Czar Film & Tv)
Co-producers – Climax Films (Olivier Rausin) & Kino Produzioni (Giovanni Pompili)
Cinematographer – Martijn Van Broekhuizen
Editor – Manu Van Hove
Art Direction – Mohamed Ayada & Pepijn Van Looy
Cast – Niels Willaert, Koen De Graeve, Fortunato Cerlino, Nicola Rignanese, Karlijn Sileghem, Günther Lesage, Vladislav Prigunov
Funding
VAF (Flanders Audiovisual Fund), CCA (Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles), Screen Flanders, IDM Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia
Co-produced by Canvas, RTBF, BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance & Belgian Tax Shelter
Sales & Distribution
Sales – Intramovies
Distribution Benelux – Paradiso
Bio director
In 2011, Kenneth Mercken graduated from the Brussels film academy RITS with his short ‘The Letter’. It won him the VAF Wildcard (production funds for a new project) and was screened at many international festivals among which Montreal and Hong-Kong. ‘Feel Sad for the Bunny’ is his second short. It won him the BeTV Award at the Brussels Short Film Festival and he got selected for Guanajuato International Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival. His first feature film ‘Coureur’, released in 2018. Besides his fiction projects, he also directs commercials and music videos for Czar.
Festival selections & Awards
- Belgian première at Gent Film Fest, 2018
- International première at IFFR Rotterdam, 2019
- National / Benelux release in March 2019
- Goteborg IFF, Nordic Premiere, 2019
- Selected for Binger Filmlab, 2012Nominated for Best Directorial Debut at Camerimage, 2019
- Nominated for Best screenplay at Film Festival Oostende, 2019
- Nominated for New Cinema at Transatlantyk Festival, Lodz, 2019