SAVE SANDRA
Belgium
Director: Jan Verheyen & Lien Willaert
Cast: Sven De Ridder, Darya Gantura, Rosalie Charles
Genre: Drama
100 minutes: Flemish, French, English, Russian with English subtitles
Completely out of the blue, William and Olga Massart receive the shock diagnosis that their only daughter, six-year old Sandra, has MLD, a rare muscular disease. She has roughly one year to live. As the family’s world crumbles, the father refuses to give up hope and he engages in a fierce battle with the pharmaceutical industry.
“I would do ANYTHING to save my child” – Willem Massart.
Save Sandra is the first artistic collaboration between the couple Jan Verheyen and Lien Willaert both with extensive careers in film production. Willaert wrote the screenplay based on the true and highly topical story of the Massart family, a story that ten years ago deeply touched media and public opinion in Belgium and far beyond. Selected to open the Ostend Film Festival Save Sandra film will thereafter go on circuit in Belgium in October 2021.
About the arbitrariness of fate, about quality of life, about political responsibilities and about an unequal struggle. Cinevox
Save Sandra not only tells a compelling story of a family in crisis, the film also exposes a current issue about the responsibilities of the pharmaceutical industry. Something that concerns us all right now! Peter Craeymeersch, Artistic Director, Film Festival Ostend
Emotional, relevant and topical. Readmylips, The Speakers Office
About the world we live in, about personal moral dilemmas, about ethical societal questions, about who we are and how we want to be, as people. Jan Verheyen and Lien Willaert