Robin Pront, a promising director
The specialist American magazine Variety will name Belgian director Robin Pront as one of the ten Europeans to look out for. Variety plans to reveal its list of "10 Europeans to Watch" to the press and the public at the next Berlin film festival, taking place from 9 to 19 February 2017.
Pront’s first short film Plan B, set in Antwerp’s drug-trafficking scene, brought home the award for best short film at the 2008 Leuven Film Festival, as well as the people’s choice award. It was followed by a second short film in 2010, Injury Time, which told the story of two Flemish hooligans out for revenge against Walloon football fans.
In 2016, he released his first full-length feature film, a police thriller entitled The Ardennes that tells the story of a robbery gone wrong. Dave (Jeroen Perceval), manages to escape, but leaves his brother Kenneth (Kevin Janssens) behind. Four years later, when the violent and ill-tempered Kenneth is released from prison, he wants to pick up with his life where he left off, and is more determined than ever to win back his girlfriend Sylvie (Veerle Baetens). Little does he know, Dave and Sylvie have since fallen in love, and are now living an ordinary life together. This film was named Best International Feature Film at the 21st Festival Polar de Cognac, which celebrates the detective genre in all its forms.
Robin Pront is already at work on several other story ideas, even if he does not want to say which of them might win out, for now. One thing is certain: since The Ardennes, his desire to make films has become even stronger than before.