The Room

In 2019, an unusual and highly awaited film was released : Christian Volckman’s “The Room”, rated second in the French film category of the international box office, in autumn 2019. Christian Volckman’s feature film made many horror film fans on the American streaming platform Shudder, very happy. During confinement, they rushed to see “The Room” and it became THE confinement film, the first to go online in March 2020 and the most watched film in the platform’s history ! For the development of this film, Christian Volckman took part in 2012 Le Groupe Ouest Annual Selection.

The chronology…

In 2006, the French a and international festivals were stunned to discover an animated film considered the French “Matrix” at the time. It was in fact “Renaissance”, the first feature film by a young French director. A visual masterpiece made exclusively in black and white, without any grey tones. A rare object, using Mocap (motion capture) because no one had done it before. Christian Volckman was the revelation of the moment and everyone wanted to work with this outstanding visual artist. He read many screenplays, but no project to his taste. Until 2012, when he was selected by Le Groupe Ouest, the Finistère-based fiction screenwriting laboratory, for the project “The Room”.

On applying for Le Groupe Ouest Annual Selection, his project caught the eye of producer, member of the Finistère selection jury: Yaël Fogiel (Les Films du Poisson), used to taking on ambitious projects.

After nine months of obstinate exploration for the writing “The Room” close to the Finisterien beaches, Christian found the essence of his film and also the perfect right co-writer. Five years of battle began because Christian and his producer wanted to shoot the film in English, with American actors, which is highly uncommon in the French financing system. Yet, it is a fantastic film worthy of the best productions of American independent cinema. The film ends up being shot in Belgium…

With its outstanding form, the film is bought by some thirty countries, and Christian Volckman’s exceptional career continues. Does the writing in le Finistère have anything to do with this success?

Synopsis

Kate and Matt are a young couple in their thirties in search of a more authentic and healthy life. hey leave the City to move into an old house in the middle of nowhere, lost in Maryland. Soon they discover a secret hidden room that has the extraordinary power to materialize anything they wish for. Their new life becomes a true fairytale. They spend days and nights indulging their every desire of material possession, swimming in money and champagne. Yet beneath this apparent state of bliss, something darker lurks: some wishes can have dire consequences. That Room could very well turn their dream into a nightmare when it gives them what they’ve been waiting forever and that nature was denying them…