CHAMBRE FROIDE

In the outskirt of an industrial town, Rita (26) and her mother Nicole run a small family butchers on the verge of bankruptcy. It has been 10 years since the death of Leo. Since then, Nicole has been living in the shadow of her dead husband, cold and bitter, clinging to his memory to the point of forgetting her own daughter. Rita leads her existence, hoping for a word or gesture of tenderness from her mother who ignores her. Rita wants to leave. But her mother refuses because nothing must change.

"I wanted to tell this story in order to try to understand the reasons behind incommunicability and the damage caused by the lack of love. How can it be that the relationship between a mother and her daughter has to be split asunder in order for them to express their feelings? I also wanted to tell of hope, the hope of a possible dialogue between generations. My decision to place these two characters in an industrial no man's land is mainly due to the fact that I was born in the very region depicted in the film and also because I wanted to describe a social reality that I know well and about which I care deeply" (Olivier Masset-Depasse).

Director and plot: Olivier Masset-Depasse.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: Olivier Masset-Depasse, Pierre Penneman.
Director of photography: Tommaso Fiorilli.
Art director: Luc Noël, Corinne Guth.
Costume designer: Dominique Degrelle.
Editor: Damien Keyeux.
Sound: David Golin, Vincent Demanet.
Music: Olivier Masset-Depasse, Vincent Demanet.
Cast and characters: Francine Blistin (Nicole), Anne Coesens (Rita), Jo Coesens (Leo), Marie-Madeleine Masset (Mme Dewilde).
Production company: Alexis Film, 61 Avenue Eugene Demolder, 1030 Bruxelles, Belgique, tel. 322-2457073, fax +32-2-2454326.
Co-production: Playtime sarl (France).