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 screening: Kind Hearts by Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes
Kind Hearts sets out to present a candid portrait of first love in all of its newness, inherent uncertainties and future life expectations. Co-director Gerard-Jan Claes explains more about what drove the him and partner Olivia Rochette towards the subject.
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 project: Life Will Give You Pictures by Aldine Reinink
The large domicile in Antwerp is, like many others, packed with images and memories from over the years. But not every dwelling can boast house guests in the form of the Beatles, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix. In her latest documentary Aldine Reinink profiles three generations of one photographic family, renowned snapper of the stars Herman Selleslags, his father Rik and his son, and amanuensis, Jan.
RE>CONNEXT project: Carbon by Manu Riche
Manu Riche’s new documentary will deliver a lyrical cri du coeur about fossil fuels and their corrosive effect on the planet. “The film doesn't set out to describe the factual state of our world, nor present a numerical analysis. Instead, it explores how we got here, what caused us to reach this tipping point, the psychology and philosophy that underlie this debacle,” he says.
RE>CONNEXT review: All-In by Volkan Üce
Volkan Üce’s story of two young Turkish men trying to settle into jobs at the all-inclusive Nashira Resort makes for an engaging and insightful documentary that perfectly encapsulates the eternal culture clash between the haves and have-nots.
RE>CONNEXT work-in-progress: Iraq’s Invisible Beauty by Sahim Omar Kalifa
When the director first discussed his documentary idea to profile the great Iraqi photographer Latif Al Ani, the subject thought that it would entail him sitting on a chair, talking to the camera about all the pictures he had taken. “I said Latif, our ambitions are higher than that! We have bigger goals!” Khalif corrected him. This is a film for the cinema, a work of scale and grandeur, he tells BDE.
RE>CONNEXT news and deals
The RE>CONNEXT 2021 doc ALL-IN by Volkan Üce has won Best Documentary at this year’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, while Lagardère has signed up to handle international sales on Luc Lemaitre’s doc series The Offensive, produced by Panenka, which was presented during last year’s event. The series is also nominated in the Social Issues documentary category, at the New York TV & Film Awards.
RE>CONNEXT project: Seed by Dries Meddens
Now in his early 50s, Dries Meddens is finally making his documentary feature debut. His film, pitched at RE>CONNEXT this week, is a deeply personal project with a gestation stretching back almost 20 years, to when his father was still alive. In it he asks why his father, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was so badly treated, both by psychiatrists and by society in general. BDE reports.
RE>CONNEXT review: The Wire by Tiha K. Gudac
The troubled coming together of borders and migrants is brought into sharp and fascinating focus in Tiha Gudac’s engrossing and at times gently provocative documentary The Wire which heads to the edge of Eastern Europe to detail the impact a steel fence with razor wire has had on the beautiful Kupa region and the River Kupa itself which acts as a border between Slovenia and Croatia.
