Cleo

Eva Cools : 2019

Cleo is a 17-year-old girl who survives a devastating car crash which kills her parents. After that fatal night she is raised by her caring grandmother who tries to offer Cleo and her little brother a loving home but finds herself faced with a rebellious teenager. Cleo's father was a renowned concert pianist and she too has been playing the piano since childhood. Although she often listens to contemporary music, the piano – and in particular Rachmaninov's work – plays a central role in Cleo's cathartic processing. Cleo begins to lose herself in Brussels and seeks refuge in the older, mysterious Leos whom she meets in a nightclub and who seems to understand the struggle she is in. Viewing him as a stranger with whom she can reinvent herself, unencumbered by her past and her trauma, she is unaware of the tragic circumstances linking him to herself and her family. Eva Cools's feature directorial debut premiered at Film Fest Gent 2019, and screened in competition in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.