RE>CONNEXT review: Where the World Ends by Anna Savchenko
Where the World Ends looks at the absurdity of bureaucratic procedures by highlighting a few individuals on both sides of the Belarus/Lithuania border.
RE>CONNEXT company profile: Diplodokus
A diplodokus (or diplodocus) is a dinosaur with a long neck and a very long tail. It’s also the name which has been taken by one of Belgium’s most adventurous independent production companies. Since 2014, Diplodokus has been making documentary films, TV dramas and web-docs which have won awards and been shown at many international festivals. The company’s Maarten Bernaerts explains the rationale to BDE.
RE>CONNEXT project WIP: Soundtrack to a coup d’état by Johan Grimonprez
First pitched at CPH:FORUM, Johan Grimonprez’s feature doc project fuses the promise of African decolonization in the 1960s, the rise of the US civil rights movement and the State Department’s mobilization of ‘jazz ambassadors’ for propaganda purposes. New partners on board from France, Netherlands and Sweden with much broadcast and sales interest, the producers say.
RE>CONNEXT 2021 unveils doc selection: 26 film and 4 series titles
Flemish online showcase to present new documentary/non-fiction projects, works-in-progress and screenings of upcoming and completed titles from film and TV docmakers. Directors include Berlin Golden Bear 2021 winner Olga Lucovnicova, Steven Dhoedt with two projects and award-winning producer/director Koen Mortier, plus new content from leading doc houses. The platform goes live 4 October, runs to 15 October.
RE>CONNEXT company profile: Panenka
“An audacious shot on goal, both bold and delicate,” reads the slogan on the Panenka website. The Belgian company, founded in 2004, has taken its name from one of the most famous penalties in the history of football. The company’s Kristoffel Mertens attempts to put one past Business Doc Europe.
RE>CONNEXT project: Louise-Marie by Daphne van den Blink
Creative producer Sien Versteyhe is happy to admit that she has no idea where her RE>CONNEXT project Louise-Marie is going to shoot, other than on a boat on the high seas. As it is a Belgian Navy boat (the film is eponymously titled), its location will be a closely guarded secret. Versteyhe tells Business Doc Europe more about this voyage of discovery.
RE>CONNEXT: Frederik Nicolai, producer of the 6-film Borderline series
Back in 2017 Belgian producer Frederik Nicolai had a big idea – how were ordinary people’s lives being impacted along the borders throughout Europe? Now that big idea is a big series of six creative documentary features. The producer explains the concept to Business Doc Europe.
RE>CONNEXT interview: Steven Dhoedt, ‘The Sound of Seoul’ & ‘Sunrise Kids’
Business Doc Europe talks to a very busy Steven Dhoedt, who is presenting two projects at RE>CONNEXT, The Sound of Seoul which examines the unique musical culture of post-War Korea, and Sunrise Kids, about the “historical tension between rebellion and conformity within post-war Japanese society.”
RE>CONNEXT screening: Why We Fight by Alain Platel and Mirjam Devriendt
In Alain Platel and Mirjam Devriendt’s complex and visually stunning feature doc, which screens at RE>CONNEXT before its world-premiere at Film Fest Gent, the question of why we fight is posed not only to dancers in choreographer Platel’s company, but to a range of experts across core academic disciplines. Co-director Devriendt reflects on the hows and the whys of her project.
RE>CONNEXT work-in-progress: How Do You Spell Home? by Louisiana Mees-Fongang
Director Louisiana Mees had previously explored coming-of-age in her fictional short Waithood, which was about Greek teenagers struggling to make their way in an economically depressed society; that marked her graduation project from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Now she tells a very different coming-of-age story in her feature doc debut And Tomorrow, The Whole World, she tells BDE.
