Rudolf Mestdagh

Rudolf Mestdagh is a writer, director, and producer. Born in Brussels/Belgium in 1965. Over the years, Rudolf has divided his time between theater, music, (as a DJ, musician, and club-owner) and journalism. However, since 1989 he has dedicated himself to the medium of film. Rudolf studied Film Directing & Producing at the Film Academy Brussels, whilst also studying both Literature and Screenwriting at French University, ULB. He also attended the Media Business School 2000, and has followed the EAVE-program 2002 for film producers through Media Plus. He followed several Workshops on Screen Writing (FEMI in Barcelona, AFI in Los Angeles). After working for several years as a production manager, Rudolf launched two companies, Amalgam Inc. and CosmoKino, to produce and distribute a series of short films. Since then he has directed one feature, five shorts, three TV-films, fifteen documentaries and over fifty commercials. Most of his films are highly acclaimed and have won several awards. His second short film, Robochick, came in second in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993. It won the Belgian Oscar and the Silver Apple in Oakland. Rudolf's first commercial, Marie Thumas, won the Bronze World Medal at the New York Advertising Festival and was shortlisted at Cannes. For Channel 4 (UK), he directed two episodes of the TV-series Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, produced by - and based on - the film by Guy Ritchie. In 2004 his first feature film, Ellektra, co-written, directed and produced by Rudolf under his own company CosmoKino, has been shot for a 1,5 million budget with money from Flemish, Dutch, German and European Funds, two TV-networks VRT and Canal Plus Flanders. Last two years, as a co-producer, Rudolf was involved with four international feature projects.