The Ardennes by Robin Pront to open 42nd Film Fest Gent

In 'The Ardennes' a brutal home jacking goes hopelessly wrong. Dave, one of the two robbers, manages to run off, leaving his brother Kenneth behind. Four years later Kenneth is released from prison but a lot has changed over time. Dave has his life back on track and is trying to help Kenneth wherever possible, but is witnessing how his highly-strung brother tries to win back his ex-girlfriend Sylvie.

Next to Veerle Baetens (‘Broken Circle Breakdown’), Kevin Janssens (‘Missing Persons Unit’) and co-writer Jeroen Perceval (‘Bullhead’), the supporting actors are Jan Bijvoet (‘Borgman), Sam Louwyck (‘The Wonders’), Viviane De Muynck (‘Racing Hearts’) and Peter Van den Begin (‘Kebab Royal’).

Director Robin Pront: "As a young filmmaker I couldn’t imagine a better start for my first feature film. To open Film Fest Gent is the greatest honour you can achieve with your film in Belgium. Needless to say I’m very pleased with this opportunity. Anther perk is that after several unsuccessful attempts, I will now finally be allowed to attend the opening night of the film festival ;-) ! "

Artistic director of Film Fest Gent, Patrick Duynslaegher on choosing ‘The Ardennes’ as the opening film: “We are delighted to open the 42nd edition of Film Fest Gent with ‘The Ardennes’. It’s a film festival’s duty to spot and showcase new talent. Which is certainly the case with Robin Pront, whose first feature film is a hole in one. It’s an amazing and, especially for Flanders, a rather unique mix of genre and arthouse cinema. This dark thriller is an uncut Flemish noir, not suitable for viewers who can’t take a little bloodshed, but highly recommended for anyone who wants to see a purebred filmmaker at work and enjoy the remarkable performances by Veerle Baetens, Kevin Janssens and Jeroen Perceval."

‘The Ardennes’ was produced by Bart Van Langendonck for Savage Film, co-produced by Eyeworks and PRPL/Bastide Films in the Netherlands and will be distributed in Belgium by Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD). The film will be released nationally on October 14th 2015.