'Moscow Belgium' Director to Adapt 'The Angel Maker'

COLOGNE, Germany - Els Vadevorst, producer of the acclaimed Winter in Wartime and co-producer of Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, Dogville and Manderlay, has acquired the film rights to The Angel Maker, the award-winning novel from Flemish writer Stefan Brijs.

Christophe Van Rompaey (Moscow, Belgium) is attached to co-develop and direct the film adaptation. Vadeworst and Van Rompaey last worked together on the drama Lena, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

Set in the Belgian village of Wolfheim close to the Dutch and German borders, The Angel Maker tells the story of Dr. Victor Hoppe, a mysterious physician who returns home after 20 years away with three babies - named after the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Mixing themes of religion and science, good and evil and the human desire for immortality; Brijs' novel has won several literary awards and been translated into 13 languages.

"Of all the books you read in your lifetime, only very few make such a strong impression that they stay with you for the rest of your life," said Christophe van Rompaey. "For me, The Angel Maker is one of these exceptional books; I sensed this immediately, the first time I read it."

Brijs added: "The Angel Maker and its main character Victor Hoppe have fired the imaginations of many filmmakers already. In the pairing of Vandevorst/Van Rompaey, I found two highly competent and passionate professionals, and I am confident that they will make a film that will leave its audiences just as enthralled as the readers of my book."

Antonino Lombardo of Belgian shingle Prime Time, a producer on Winter in Wartime, will co-produce The Angel Maker together with Vadevorst's N279 Entertainment.