CONNEXT 23

In his 2018 feature documentary Breathless, Daniel Lambo took on the asbestos industry. In his new project Porto Central, (a documentary feature pitch at Connext), Lambo has Shell and the oil industry firmly in his sights. “Usually, that is a motor for my work. When I get kind of angry, I need to do something with this anger,” Lambo tells BDE of what motivates him as a filmmaker.

The life story of Walter Arfeuille is an odd and perhaps even tragic one. He is a man driven by a quest for recognition who once strived to stand atop the competitive strong-man world in Belgium. Now, well into his sixties and struggling with physical issues, he attempts to grab a final modest headline, all watched over by a film crew who he thinks can help him prove himself to the world one last time.

Emmy Oost (Cassette for timescapes) is one of Belgium’s most innovative producers whose work invariably has a strong sense of political and social engagement. One such work is the new doc series She They Us - Towards an Equal Future by Sam Peeters, Heleen Declercq and Zaïde Bil which profiles seven people facing discrimination because of gender, sexuality, colour, age, class and religion. The producer talks to BDE.

The feature documentary Ana + kek tells a very personal story, about twin sisters whose beliefs have taken them on very different paths. “I felt I was too close to the subject,” says Zohra Benhammou of why she turned to Romy Mana to co-direct the film. “I needed someone who [could] take a distance [from it], to guide me into the story.”

This week Sarah Lederman was singled out by Oscar-nominated Belgian director Lukas Dhont as one of the Future Five group of highly talented emerging filmmakers from the region. Lederman was the sole docmaker. “People say sometimes about me that I see things they didn’t see,” Lederman reflects to BDE, “I look deeply into things, I love details and I just love the things that make the everyday special.”

In this humorous and heart-warming documentary, the relationship between a 103-year-old mother and her mentally challenged daughter (62), who have lived together for years in a Belgian care-home, must be refashioned as their health begins to fail. Bye Mom is, at heart, a charming mother-and-daughter love story.

This week Thom M. Vander Beken presented his work-in-progress that deals with a highly sensitive inflammatory subject, that of the systematic round-up of 10,000 Jews in Antwerp in 1942 and their subsequent deportation to the death camps. “Even 80 years after the end of the war, many in Flanders still find it difficult to fully acknowledge the tragedy that occurred,” the director said.

It’s over 30 years now since the night skies of Belgium were lit up by what seemed to be an invasion of UFOs. All these decades later, there is still fierce debate as to whether the visitation from the UFOs happened for real or whether it was an elaborate hoax. Bram Conjaerts’ new doc series project attempts to get to the bottom of the unsolved mystery. The director talks to BDE.

The Flemish CONNEXT showcase, running 9-23 October, offers up 16 newly completed feature docs and two completed doc series, as well as three new projects (two features, one series) & five works-in-progress (3 features, 2 series). All will be presented to the international sales, distribution, finance and festival toppers in attendance both in Antwerp and online.

Fantastique by Marjolijn Prins and produced by Serendiity Films won the Perfect Pitch Award while the 5-part series She They Us - Towards an Equal Future, directed by Zaïde Bil, Heleen Declercq and Sam Peeters and produced by Cassette for timescapes, won the Work in Progress Award. The total value of all the awards at CONNEXT 2023 came to approximately 80,000 euros.