

James Ensor in Oostende, ca. 1920
In 2000, which was ‘Ensor Year’, the installation artist Guillaume Bijl made a short fictitious found-footage film entitled ‘James Ensor in Oostende ca. 1920’, which shows the painter at this resort with his friends. We see them having a drink, strolling in the arcades of the Thermae Palace and sitting on the beach. Bijl’s meticulous choice of locations, belle époque dress (including bathing costumes) and his cinematographically perfect imitation of the rather jerky black & white images, as well as the patina and the perfectly imitated scratches on the film emulsion, all resulted in a perfect replica: an apparently forgotten roll of film from the days of silent film. Bijl himself classifies this faultless slice of life, one of his rare excursions into film and video, under ‘cultural tourism’, one of the elements of his work in which he popularizes cultural history subjects and reduces them to clichés for the general public.
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- NL
- found footage
- fictional biography
- fake
- video installation
- james ensor
Top billed cast
Behind the camera
Gallery

Videos
Release dates
BelgiumBE
- TheatricalALVideo installation on view in 'MO(u)veMENTS'-exhibition at KMSKA (25/06 till 24/09/2000)25 Jun 2000
- TheatricalALArt Cinema OFFoff (Ghent)16 Feb 2026
Frequently asked questions
James Ensor in Oostende, ca. 1920 was released on 25 June 2000.
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