Cleo

Cleo

Eva Cools

After 17-year-old Cleo survives the devastating car crash that killed both her parents, she succumbs to post-traumatic stress disorder. She feels she is to blame for the accident that she herself only barely survived. Like a woman drowning, she gasps for air as well as for her old life. Her grandmother (Yolande Moreau) tries her best to be there for Cleo and her younger brother but, as rebellious teenagers will, Cleo mostly pushes her away. In her desperation she descends into Brussels’ nightclub scene where she encounters Leos, an older man who strangely appears to share her wounds. Through this stranger, believes Cleo, she can reinvent a new version of herself. Meanwhile, she finds genuine solace in music. Her father was a famous pianist who passed on his talent to Cleo. She starts to practice a work by Rachmaninov and, in preparing for a performance, finds the breathing space she needs to make a fresh start.

For her depiction of Cleo, Anna Franziska Jäger was recognised with the Rising Star Award at the 2019 Alice nella città film festival in Rome.


Awards for ›Cleo‹
My Movies Award for the Best First Feature Film – Alice nella città, Rome 2019 | Rising Star Award/Best Emerging Actress (Anna Franziska Jäger) – Alice nella città, Rome 2019

Director / Script

Eva Cools

Cinematography

Brecht Goyvaerts

Editing

Alain Dessauvage

Music

Mauro Pawlowski

Sound

Yanna Soentjens

Cast

Anna Franziska Jäger, Roy Aernouts, Natali Broods, Yolande Moreau

Production

Annemie Degryse,
Jan de Clercq, Lunanime

Contact

Be for Films

Portrait of Eva Cools

Eva Cools

Eva Cools is a Flemish screenwriter and film director. She graduated in 2007 from Sint-Lukas, Brussels, with a major in audiovisual arts. Cools’ four short films have been nominated and awarded at various national and international film festivals, including Moondance Film Festival (USA), Elche International Film Festival (Spain), FirstGlance International Film Festival (USA), Film Fest Ghent (Belgium) and the Women’s Independent Film Festival (USA), where she won four prizes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Elisa Mouliaá) with her film Las Meninas.

She has also directed music videos for famed Belgian artists such as Intergalactic Lovers and Mauro Pawlowski. The video for »I left my heart in Vermont« by The Sophomore Jinx won the Popfolio Award for Best Music Video.


Films by Eva Cools
Alles komt terug 2014 | Las Meninas 2012 | El camino del deseo 2007 | De puta madre 2006