“Today more than ever it is important that we cannot just see documentary film as entertainment any more. It costs too much money and there are too many crises on this planet, so for me it is very important that the films add something to change our situation,” says Flemish producer Emmy Oost.
Cassette for timescapes founder Emmy Oost presents two projects at the online Flemish project platform RE>CONNEXT.
In This Is My Moment Biniam (18) is a promising Eritrean cyclist who dreams of becoming an international pro. Experts predict a great future for him, but in general there are not too many riders of colour in our pro tours. Europe is not in a hurry to grant Eritreans a visa, nor to other Africans, fearing they will disappear as refugees….
“It’s more of a coming-of age documentary which at the same time opens a bigger picture of people of African background in cycling, which is still a mainly white sport,” says Oost. “We will also see the obstacle that African riders have to go through to be able to become big in cycling.”
Oost points out the shocking fact that only one black rider competed in this year’s Tour de France and that in its overall 100+ year history, only six black riders have ever competed. “You see how in other sports this structural racism has been eradicated, but cycling is one of those last white sport that needs a lot of work, as well as Formula One,” she says.
The film will be directed by Belgian director Lieven Corthouts, but Oost is quick to point that he is not another example of a European director parachuted in to tell a story that is patently not his or hers to tell. He has worked in the Horn of Africa for more than 15 years, she stresses, speaks fluent Tigrinya (the language of Eritrea) and what’s more is an extreme cycling fan. “We really don’t believe any more in white filmmakers going to a country and making a story there and then coming out again… Leven would be the only European that I know who could make this kind of film.”
Co-produced with Een van de jongens (NL), Little Big Story (FR), Magellan Films (BE) and Stenola (BE) the €500,050 budget film is in production with 73.77% of its finances in place. At RE>CONNEXT Oost is looking for pre-sales, sales agents, streamers and broadcasters ahead of an Autumn 2021 delivery.
The company’s €514,231 budget Why We Fight (83.47% in place) is also presented as a Work-in-Progress.
In the film, acclaimed choreographer Alain Platel poses the question of why we fight to various artists, who then reflect on violence in a special way. Violence is mental and physical. And who better than a dancer to reflect on how mind and body work together? The film shows how violence erupts as a physical reaction when we lack words and ways to express our dissatisfaction. If we cannot find words to express our deepest, biggest and ugliest feelings, the body takes over.
“What is unique about the project is director Alain Platel himself who isn’t just a dance choreographer, but also a social worker, and in all his dance projects he has worked with people who are not typical dancers, for example deaf people who use body language in a very special way, or LGBT people,” she told BDE when the project was pitched at CPH:DOX.
“Alain has this skill to show you images and lure you into a deep emotional journey, but in such a way that it really alters your mind as you watch the film,” Oost continues. “It’s like a spell is cast upon you, and the film resembles a kaleidoscope. It zooms in on the very intimate personal lives of the viewer and the characters, and then it zooms out again to provide a picture of our society. This constant movement of in-and-out is like a spell that sucks you into the film,” she added. The film is co-produced by Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (Germany) Onomatopee Films (BE).
On both the importance of doc and her essential modus operandi, Oost is forthright: “I think documentary film has a very powerful emotional effect
for me because first we work a lot on the storytelling of those documentaries, and also the fact that it’s real adds a lot to the power the story brings to an audience.”
“We work a lot though impact producing. We want to change reality by showing the film to the right people who can change the world.”
