Herman Selleslags, pic Paul Verbeek
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.
Director Reinink remembers the first time she stood outside the large and imposing, somewhat frightening, house in Antwerp where Herman Selleslags (now 83) lives, together with his son Jan who returned to the family home when his mother, and Herman’s wife, passed away.
But once inside, all Reinink’s anxieties dissipated within an atmosphere of warmth and comforting shabbiness, the whole place lined with “the softness of memories.” The house is also packed to the rafters with pictures of the great and the good, the luminaries, the movers and shakers that shaped and redefined popular culture within the 20th Century. John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Jan Birkin, Johnny Rotten, David Bowie, Monica Vitti, Frank Zappa et al.
“It’s all a huge chaos in that house,” says Reinink of the place she will be inhabiting with her camera over the coming months as she shoots Life Will Give You Pictures. “There are all these boxes spiraling from the floor, and then Herman opens a drawer and he says, ‘oh my God, there’s that picture of Jimmy Hendrix. I lost that 20 years ago. I couldn’t find it anymore.’ All the time it’s like that. It’s like a treasure hunt.”
But Herman is far from a scatty old man seeing out his final days. He is sharp as a pin and reads the papers, watches all the latest movies and series, and listens avidly both to music and to his radio. “We can talk about anything, but he talks a lot about the past days, of course, because that’s a huge part of his life.”
“I was granted access and allowed to take a look behind a door which stays closed for most people,” she writes in her notes for the film. “My goal is to break through the façade and reveal the complex relation between fathers and sons, the natural tides of attraction and rejection, of inspiration and rebellion.”
By ‘sons’ she means not only Jan but also Herman himself, whose father was Rik, a photographer who was imprisoned after WW2 for 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 grandson Jan is the custodian.
Jan lives in the attic and looks after his dad Herman, cooking and caring for him, and is now looking to catalogue and protect the house’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 points out 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.”
Reinink explains how the film will look. “The tone of the documentary will be rough, edgy yet poetic and with a scent of romantic nostalgia to the point where it becomes a bit spooky. Neorealism, with a hint of magic realism is the style we’ve set out for LWGYP,” she says.
“Raw handheld photography in saturated colors captures the main characters roaming around the rooms, reminiscing while searching for photographic clues – forgotten pieces of life’s puzzle – that lead to look back at choices of the past or forebode decisions looming in the future,” she adds.
The doc is budgeted at €365,000 of which approximately €113,000 is yet to be raised. At RE>CONNEXT, producer Bart Maes of Zon_der**ling BV will look for pre-sales and co-production partners. The film will shoot Autumn and Winter 2021/22, with post-production scheduled for Spring ahead of a November 2022 delivery.
Maes underlines precisely (and passionately) why he wants to make this documentary: “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 Mathias, 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.”
