Not every film about three generations of an Antwerp family can boast artistic cameos (at least in photo form) by the likes of Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger and Edith Piaf. But this is no ordinary family. Flemish director Aldine Reinink presents an intimate and moving portrait of the Antwerp-based photographic Selleslags dynasty, at the heart of which is Herman (father to Jan and son of Rik) whose pictures have chronicled more vividly than most the golden era of late 20th Century pop culture.
Herman Selleslags has iconic status among all the photographers who trained their lenses on the great and the good from these times. He was the sole snapper on set when The Beatles were making the Magical Mystery Tour movie. He got into a row with Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stoner objected to his presence backstage, snapping away (although ultimately Selleslags got to stay and continue to work). He shared the back seat of a taxi with one particular guitar god – and captured quite brilliantly that Jimi Hendrix experience.
But there came a time point when it wasn’t so much fun anymore, when access to subjects became more and more limited. As he says in interview, “It used to be that you would argue with Jagger himself if you weren’t allowed to photograph The Stones. Now you argue with the 50th secretary of the 200th errand boy, and that’s not acceptable.”
Herman learned photography from his dad, a controversial wartime figure. Rik Selleslags was a photographer who was jailed at the end of WW2 after he was accused of collaboration, having photographed for the German-controlled media during the war. He also created a hand-written and self-illustrated book during his incarceration, which revealed his thoughts and emotions, of which Herman’s son Jan is the custodian.
Jan ploughs his own furrow as an archivist. In the film we see how he looks after his dad, cooking and caring for him, and is now looking to catalogue and protect the family’s photography legacy. “His mission is to revive the immense dusted archive and save it before it slips through the cracks in time,” say the film’s notes. Reinink further pointed out to BDE that Jan, too, is a skilled photographer. “I’ve seen work by him and he could be really good, but he never, I think, dared to develop his talent because of the shadow of his father and his grandfather.”
Throughout the film, another character emerges, that of the enormous, ramshackle, shabby townhouse in the centre of Antwerp that has served as the Selleslags home for decades, and which is now up for sale. The process of moving entails the ordering and transportation of countless pictures, all bound for Antwerp’s FOMU Photography Museum.
At CONNEXT 2022 Reinink explained to BDE the magic of the Selleslags abode. “It’s like a house of ghosts. It’s a very atmospheric place. It’s lived in, it’s a bit decayed. There are squeaking floors and there are secret corners and shadows running down the walls. And there’s a magical play of light. Sometimes when you’re inside you feel that the elements take over. You feel that the wind is blowing through the cracks in the walls and the rain hits the windows. And on beautiful days, the sun pours in and is floating over the wooden floors. The journey that we make in this film through the memories and the thoughts of Herman is reflected by the house that he lives in.”
“Everywhere, you stumble upon photographs and one is more amazing and more surprising than the other. And a lot of it never has been seen before. It’s like a treasure hunt,” she further describes the place.
Reinink’s film is both moving and wise, and with more than a touch of the ‘wow’ factor as more and more hitherto unseen star portraits (Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkins et al), and deeply touching family pictures, are revealed.
“Life Will Give You Pictures tells not only the story of the glittering career of a photographer. In the film we dive into his inner world, which is reflected by the house he lives in. We touch upon a complicated double father-son relationship and universal themes like the influence of family dynamics and how to break free from life’s patterns,” Reinink previously told Business Doc Europe.
“The enormous collection of Herman Selleslags contains millions of photographs, most of them still unseen, undiscovered. He has captured many unique musical and cultural highlights of the 20th century, while he always focused on the backside of the glamour, the behind the scenes, the faces of the stars that mostly remain hidden to the public.”
Producer Bart Maes of Flemish production company Zon_der”ling BV was at CONNEXT 2023 to investigate distribution opportunities and to drum up world sales interest. He confirmed that the film will be festival-ready as of January 2024. The Belgium premiere will be at FOMU Antwerp in March 2024 and will be accompanied both by the publication of a monographed coffee table book of 300+ pages and an exhibition of the works. Selleslags’s Rolling Stones pics will be exhibited at the upcoming Brussels release event of the band’s s new album, Hackney Diamonds.
Maes previously explained his need to make this film: “I’m a vinyl junkie, a photo, monograph and print collector – and a producer. Some years ago, I was at Jan’s attic, spinning records, mesmerised with excitement. I opened drawer after drawer stuffed with prints, negatives, contacts. John Lennon behind the scenes, an intimate portrait of Julien Schoenaerts and his now star actor young son Matthias, back stage with the young Rolling Stones in Schaerbeek, edgy street photography…gem after gem. Jan said, ‘you have no idea, man, the house is stuffed with it. Aldine has full access.’ Life Will Give You Pictures is a film that combines everything I love. I have to do it. It has to be outstanding.”
The film’s title itself is lifted from a quote by French photographic luminary Henri Cartier-Bresson: “You just have to live life and life will give you pictures.” He may just have had a future Herman Selleslags fixed in his mind’s eye as he said it.
