Dominique Deruddere

One of the great names of Belgian cinema, Oscar nominated director Dominique Deruddere has been passionate about filmmaking since he was a child. Thanks to his older brother, who lent him his movie camera, young Dominique managed to make his own films, starting in super 8 at the age of fourteen ("Orange Licht"), proceeding to 16mm ("Bedankt Ma") before accessing to 35 mm ("Wodka Orange"). After these shorts - made before, during and after his film school years, Deruddere collaborated with his childhood friend Marc Didden, co-writing the script of "Brussels by Night" (1983) and playing a significant part in "Istanbul" (1985). In 1986, the young director made the right pick when he decided to film a story by Charles Bukowski. Indeed what was intended as a thirty minute short was, thanks to a far-seeing producer, expanded into a feature film. "Crazy Love" (better known as "Love is a Dog from Hell") was indeed released worldwide, became a festival favorite and was unanimously acclaimed as an achievement. The film also drew the attention of Francis Ford Coppola who, through his Zoetrope production company, helped Deruddere to set up his next project, an adaptation of John Fante's "Bandini", filmed in the USA in 1989, also distributed all over the world. Dominique Deruddere came back to the States in 2001 to defend his film "Everybody Famous", which had been nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award. Among Deruddere's other films are :"Suite 16" (1994), "Hombres Complicados" (1997), "Pour le plaisir" (2004) , The Wedding Party (2005), Firmin (2007), Flying Home (aka Racing Hearts, 2014)...