RE>CONNEXT 2021

“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.

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.

An intriguing, passionate and thoughtful exploration into how racism has been entrenched in film culture through the essential technical tool of filmmaking itself, and looking closely at how the lighting for movie cameras has long been calibrated for white skin.

Joost Vandensande, editor-in-chief at production house Panenka, talks to Business Doc Europe about his company’s new 4-part doc series, to be pitched during the upcoming Flemish showcase, about the former Congolese dictator who, even now, very much divides opinion. “He is still a very, very delicate subject. It’s like opening a Pandora’s Box,” Vandensande tells BDE.

Flemish filmmaker Annabel Verbeke talks to Business Doc Europe about her Four Seasons In A Day, screening at RE>CONNEXT and part of the Borderline collection, one of six creative documentaries about unknown but fascinating borders in Europe.

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.

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.

Where the World Ends looks at the absurdity of bureaucratic procedures by highlighting a few individuals on both sides of the Belarus/Lithuania border.

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.

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.