PLAY

UN ANGE

Koen Mortier

Synopsis
Angel follows the encounter of a prostitute, Fae, and a world-famous athlete, Thierry. During his vacation in Senegal, he falls head over heels for the African beauty. They find dignity and hope with each other in order to get out of their troublesome situations. But more important than these mutual desires, they found love. Until, later in the evening, Thierry starts behaving strangely, under the influence of substances. Fae is forced to leave him but when she discovers that Thierry has passed away the next morning, she’s arrested despite her innocence. To move on with her life, she must return to the place where it all started.

Director Koen Mortier wanted to portray the world, dreams and fears of Fae and the story of what she goes through meeting the world class cyclist. In a way they lead similar lives: both have to give the best of themselves and their bodies to delight fans or clients. 

‘Angel’ is based on the acclaimed novel Monologue of Someone Accustomed to Talking to Herself by renowned Belgian author Dimitri Verhulst (The Misfortunates).

Credits
Director – Koen Mortier
Screenplay – Koen Mortier (based on the novel of Dimitri Verhulst)
Producer – Eurydice Gysel (Czar Film & Tv)
Co-producers – Eve Commenge (Anonymes Films), Marc Van Warmerdam (Graniet Film)
Cinematographer – Nicolas Karakatsanis
Editor – Nico Leunen
Art Director – Geert Paredis
Cast – Vincent Rottiers, Fatou N’Diaye, Paul Bartel, Aïcha Cissé

Funding
VAF (Flanders Audiovisual Fund), NFF (Netherlands Film Fund), Screen Flanders, Screen Brussels
Co-produced by Canvas, Stap Telenet, Proximus, BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance & Belgian Tax Shelter

Sales & Distribution
Distribution Benelux – Paradiso
Sales – Oration Films

Bio director
Koen Mortier has been active in the film world as an author, director and producer. He set his first step into the film industry with 2 shorts: ‘Ana Temnei’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Work’. In 2007 Koen directed ‘Ex Drummer’, which received many festival selections and prizes and was sold to more than 20 countries. Three years later his second film followed: ‘22nd of May’ that also won prizes and was sold to 10 countries. Koen directed a 7’-short ‘Playing away from Home’. It was part of the worldwide project ‘Short Plays’. His third feature film ‘Angel’ has been released at TIFF 2018. Currently, he has undertaken 2 ambitious projects: Voices Of Liberation, an 11 part docu-series about WW2, and Skunk, a feature film about mistreated children and revenge based off of the book ‘Skunk’ by Geert Taghon.

External Links
http://orationfilms.com/angel/

Festival selections & Awards

  • National première and opening film of Oostende Film Festival, 2018
  • World première at Toronto IFF, New World Cinema, 2018
  • Selected for Warsaw FF, nomination for International Competition, 2018
  • Selected for Film Festival Oostende, Look Competition, nominated for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Music, Best Editing & Best Film, 2018
  • Selected for American Film Institute European Union Film Showcase, 2018
  • Selected for Tallinn Black Nights IFF, 2018
  • Selected for Vlissingen, Film by the Sea festival, nominated for Film & Literature Award & Le Prix TV5 Monde, 2018
  • Selected for Nederlands Film Festival, 2018
  • Selected for Parool Film Fest Amsterdam, 2018
  • Selected for Leiden International Film Festival, 2018
  • Selected for Santa Barbara IFF, 2019
  • Selected for Istanbul Film Festival, 2019
  • Selected for Glasgow Film Festival, 2019
  • Nominated for Best Flemish Film at Magritte Awards, 2019
  • Nominated for Best Original Score for a Belgian Production at World Soundtrack Awards, 2019