EXCLUSIVE: Kat Steppe’s drama Sunday Ninth, about brothers who reconnect when one of them develops Alzheimer’s, was announced as a contender in Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Tuesday and Deadline can unveil the trailer.
It is a first fiction feature for Steppe whose previous credits include the documentary series Food for Thought, Taboo and The Vatican.
Josse De Pauw (The Passion of the Darkly Noon, Kursk) and Peter Van den Begin (King of the Belgians, The Barefoot Emperor and Adoration) play brothers Horst and Franz, who reunite after years apart.
Horst is dealing with Alzheimer’s, while Franz is in debt, and sees his brother’s unspent inheritance as the solution to his financial problems.
When Horst’s former love Andrea, played by Kristien De Proost (Girl) turns up on the scene, old wounds and a buried family mystery come to the surface, forcing them to confront their past. Frank Lammers (Undercover) also features in the cast as a doctor.
Steppe has remained true to her documentary roots in the development of the film, taking inspiration for from her work as a volunteer caregiver at a residential care centre specializing in looking after people with Alzheimer’s.
“I wanted to understand the aspects of the illness, so I could write about it. The part of Horst is solely based on countless conversations I had with one particular man. For reasons of privacy, I’ll refer to him as ‘Eddy’,” she explains.
“Eddy taught me a lot about the disease, from first-hand experience. People living with Alzheimer’s are far from empty shells. Many remain acutely aware of how their abilities are deteriorating. What makes them feel better is being able to talk about what they see and feel without us correcting them all the time.”
The film is lead produced by Kato Maes and Sofie Rooseleer at Antwerp-based Panenka, in their first feature for the company after fiction and documentary series Two Summers (Netflix), This Is Not A Murder Mystery, Putain, Over Water… and Taboo.
The Tallinn Black Nights Festival runs from November 7 to 23.
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