Planet B by Pieter Van Eecke
The RE>CONNEXT platform is to remain open until midnight on 31 October, it was announced by Flanders Image today. The decision was taken after participants with increasingly busy October schedules requested extra time to engage with the wide range of content on offer.
Event organisers also revealed that, as of October 14, the most consulted documentary titles on the platform have been:
PROJECTS:
- Mobutu (series) by Guillaume Graux (Panenka)
- Carbon by Manu Riche (Menuetto)
- Planet B by Pieter Van Eecke (Clin d’Oeil Films)
WORKS IN PROGRESS:
- And Tomorrow, the Whole World by Louisiana Mees (Diplodokus)
- Capturing the Pirate King by Lennart Stuyck (Diplodokus)
- Soundtrack to a coup d’etat by Johan Grimonprez (zap-o-matik)
COMPLETED/SCREENING
- Kind Hearts by Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes (Accattone Films)
- All-In by Volkan Üce (Cassette for Timescapes)
- Echo by Ruben Desiere (Accattone Films)
Mystery Shoppers
The RE-CONNEXT 2021 Mystery Shoppers have voted Planet B as their Best Video pitch. The documentary is directed by Pieter Van Eecke and produced by Hanne Phlypo of Clin d’Oeil Films.
Jury citation: “A really well-presented pitch of a strong, relevant and captivating story, by both the director and the producer, with a good use of materials. We particularly loved the idea of creating a shorter version for schools and educational establishments.”
In the film, 14-year-old Bo grows up in a protected environment, where everything seems possible, but she is frightened by the dark predictions of the future. Together with her friend Lina, she decides to take up the fight against climate change. There are thousands like them, so why doesn’t anything change? Her mum Marjolein follows in the fight, and they join Extinction Rebellion. Just turned 15, they occupy factory sites and highways. They are arrested and criticised. But what is the point of going to school in a world that is dying? As Lina proposes increasingly radical actions, the more thoughtful Bo wants to find her own way. But how can she continue in a world that is eating away at her own future?
In the Best Pitch Videos – WiP category the jury gave a Special Mention to Capturing The Pirate King by Lennart Stuyck (Diplodokus)
Jury: “A Special Mention for this team for delivering a focused pitch. The story was nicely told by the director who really knows what this project is and why it works. Great use of clips and a strong teaser that tells us everything we need to know.
In the film, on 13 October 2013, the day Captain Phillips is premiering in the USA, high-ranking Somali pirate Afweyne is sitting on a flight to Brussels, on his way to a meeting about his own Hollywood deal. Sitting next to him is Tiiceey, the governor of a Somali province that has been a pirate stronghold for more than a decade. What Afweyne doesn’t know is that the movie about his life as a pirate king is a set-up by the Belgian police. As soon as the Somalis land, they are put in jail. Their subsequent trial for piracy is the first in modern times, and opens up a world in which everyone tells their own story.
