31/08/2026 - The Belgian-Hungarian helmer is filming his fiction feature debut, starring Mark O’Brien and Anneke Sluiters

Actors Mark O'Brien and Anneke Sluiters

Miklós Keleti is currently shooting his feature-length fiction debut, Soma. A graduate of Brussels’ INSAS film school, Keleti began exploring genre cinema with his graduation film, Back Against the Wall, which screened at numerous festivals, and later with Patterns, which won three awards at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. His work combines an auteur approach with genre elements, as is also the case with his first feature, Soma.

The film follows a couple of scientists, Paul (Mark O’Brien) and Sarah (Anneke Sluiters), who are struggling to help their son Theo, who has a rare condition affecting his speech. Driven by his obsession, Paul develops an experimental drug designed to improve communication abilities. Fixated on the prospect of hearing his son speak, he puts the fragile balance of his family at risk.

While the movie's scientific dimension and its exploration of uncharted territory provide its genre component, the story remains rooted in family dynamics. It raises questions about how far a parent is prepared to go to “save” their child, which ethical and moral boundaries they may be willing to cross, and at what cost.

Canadian actor Mark O’Brien, who plays Paul, has previously appeared in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, as well as taking a leading role in the horror-comedy Ready or Not. More recently, he appeared in James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg. He is joined by Dutch actress Anneke Sluiters, who has worked extensively in television and also played the lead role in the thriller Heresy, selected for IFFR in 2024. The cast also includes Belgian actress Lucie Debay, recently seen in The Silent Run, Omen and The (Ex)perience of Love, while newcomer Leonhard Kõuhkna plays the young boy. The cinematography is handled by Belgian DoP Virginie Surdej.

Soma is being produced by Sebastian Schelenz for Brussels-based genre-focused company Velvet Films, which recently co-produced Maryam Touzani’s Calle Malaga, winner of the Audience Award at Venice, and Frida Kempff’s The Swedish Torpedo, which won the Grand Prix at the Mons Film Festival and four Guldbagge Awards. Its recent credits also include Michèle Jacob’s fantasy flick Lost Children and Véronique Jadin’s horror-comedy Employee of the Month.

The film is being co-produced by Amber Ripley for Goodbye Productions (Canada), Elina Litvinova for Three Brothers (Estonia) and Denis Vaslin for Volya Films (Netherlands). In Belgium, the co-production partners are RTBF, Proximus and BeTV. The project has received support from, among others, the Film and Audiovisual Centre of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Telefilm Canada, the Netherlands Film Fund and the Estonian Film Institute.

The shoot, which is taking place in Estonia and the Netherlands, is due to wrap in mid-September.

(Translated from French)