Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni are filmmakers based in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. They have worked as a writing and directing team for their entire professional film careers.

Career

Ann Sirot (born in

, Belgium) and Raphaël Balboni (born in Auxon, France) met in Brussels and started working together in 2007. After developing an interest in filmmaking, the couple directed a number short films, gaining critical attention in the independent festival circuit. Sirot and Balboni made their full-length debut in 2020 with ''

Madly in Life ''Madly in Life'' (french: Une vie démente) is a 2020 Belgian comedy-drama film written and directed by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni in their feature directorial debut. The film stars Jo Deseure, Jean Le Peltier, Lucie Debay and Gilles Remich ...

'' (''Une vie démente''), a comedy-drama film that follows an aging woman (

Jo Deseure Jo Deseure is a Belgian stage and film actress. After developing an interest in acting, Deseure enrolled at the Institut Supérieur des Arts in Brussels and graduated from there in 1984. She later began working in theatre and became a regular ...

) dealing with her progressing

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

with the help of her son (

Jean Le Peltier Jean Le Peltier is a Belgian-French film and stage director, writer and actor. After developing an interest in acting, Le Peltier studied performing arts at the Rennes 2 University in France and graduated from there in 2008. He began working in t ...

). The film had its world premiere as the opening film at the

Namur Film Festival The ''Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur'' (FIFF) is a festival dedicated to French speaking films in Namur, Belgium created in 1986, reflecting francophone diversity, from Europe, Canada and Africa. History The festival is cre ...

on 2 October 2020 and was theatrically released in Belgium on 4 November 2020. Upon release, the film was acclaimed by critics, who lauded the cast performances as well as the production values and the sensitive portrayal of its subject matter. At the

11th Magritte Awards The 11th Magritte Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie André Delvaux, honored the best films of 2020 and 2021 in Belgium. It took place on 12 February 2022, at the Square, in the historic site of Mont des Arts, Brussels. It was the first c ...

, ''Madly in Life'' received a record-tying twelve nominations and won seven awards, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

and

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

for Sirot and Balboni.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirot, Ann and Raphaël Balboni Belgian film directors Filmmaking duos French-language film directors Living people Magritte Award winners Screenwriting duos Year of birth missing (living people)