Bert Van Tichelen

Springen (Jumping) is an absurdist comedy set inside 'Sempa Vivax', an exclusive and highly unusual retirement home housed in a castle.The facility caters specifically to wealthy elderly residents, offering them the unique opportunity to fully realize their wildest, final fantasies and unfulfilled dreams. Under the guidance of the home's eccentric staff, the residents engage in bizarre and extravagant activities, which range from reenacting passionate past romances to staging a simulated atomic war for entertainment.The narrative unfolds through the various subplots of these residents as they navigate their surreal daily lives, attempting to escape the realities of old age and mortality through illusion and play. The story explores the chaotic dynamics between the elderly elite, their families, and the staff members who facilitate their increasingly elaborate delusions.

The story takes place in 14th-century Flanders, a region suffering under the oppressive and bloody occupation of the French King, Philip the Fair. Tensions between the arrogant French nobility and the proud Flemish guilds reach a boiling point. Following the bloody uprising known as the Bruges Matins, an armed conflict becomes inevitable.Without their imprisoned leader, Robert of Bethune—the "Lion of Flanders"—craftsmen, peasants, and local nobles unite. This leads to the legendary Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 11, 1302, near Kortrijk, where an untrained Flemish citizen army faces the elite French cavalry.

Pierre lives with his mother in an antiquated house in a run-down working-class area. Every morning, Pierre takes the tram to his job at the town hall, where he listens to his colleagues' jokes over the lunch break. His only hope of banishing his boredom and frustration is a girl from the gymnastics club. One evening, when his mother is out of the house, he decides to invite her into his home [Avila].

A factory worker is employed in the desolate, cold-storage cellars of a brewery. His spare time he devotes to collecting romantic images of wild flowers and sticking newspaper cuttings in an album, demonstrating a preference for more gruesome stories. Murders, rapes and acts of violence are the events which accompany his everyday existence and invest it with a tinge of color.

When Anna, a twenty-eight-year-old photographer, is put in charge of a report on the restoration works at The Ostend Museum of Modern Art, she discovers by chance five paintings signed Constant Permeke, whose power and mystery move and fascinate her.She decides to embark on a quest to find out about who Permeke actually was, the places where he lived, how he worked, what experiences he went through.