Roland Verhavert

A documentary celebrating 25 years of flemish subsidised cinema.

The movie follows the turbulent life of Wortel, a deeply devout yet flawed Flemish farmer at the turn of the 20th century. Wortel has an intense bond with his land, but his life is defined by a relentless series of tragic hardships.Throughout his journey, Wortel faces the loss of multiple children, the suicide of his son, and the heartbreaking deaths of his wives, Fien and Frisine. Despite these devastating misfortunes, he is constantly urged by the local village priest to accept this suffering as part of God's grand plan. Mixing heavy melodrama with moments of dark, bittersweet humor, the film portrays Wortel’s fierce survival instinct, human weaknesses, and ultimate search for solace through his faith and hard labor.

The movie follows the turbulent life of Wortel, a deeply devout yet flawed Flemish farmer at the turn of the 20th century. Wortel has an intense bond with his land, but his life is defined by a relentless series of tragic hardships.Throughout his journey, Wortel faces the loss of multiple children, the suicide of his son, and the heartbreaking deaths of his wives, Fien and Frisine. Despite these devastating misfortunes, he is constantly urged by the local village priest to accept this suffering as part of God's grand plan. Mixing heavy melodrama with moments of dark, bittersweet humor, the film portrays Wortel’s fierce survival instinct, human weaknesses, and ultimate search for solace through his faith and hard labor.

A young brickyard worker named Sam bonds with an older coworker named Louis as their traditional industry faces closure and local environmental issues.

In the freezing winter of 1944, the devastating Battle of the Bulge rages across Belgium. Amid the chaos, an American soldier separated from his unit crosses paths with Richard, a cynical young Belgian boy, and Willy, a wounded German soldier they take as a prisoner.Stranded in a desolate, snowy landscape where survival overrides military allegiance, the three mismatched individuals form a fragile, surreal bond. As they trudge through the war-torn countryside, their basic survival instincts push political ideologies aside.

In 1833, when the fledgling Belgian kingdom still fears a Dutch invasion, recruits were selected annually from an age cohort by a draw of lots in each locality. In this grim, then contemporary drama by the 'father of Flemish literature', Hendrik Conscience, Jan Braems, a poor and naive farmers-boy, accepts the not uncommon offer by a rich family to sell his lucky ticket (out) to their son for a hefty sum compared to the miserable labor wages at the time. Army life is even harsher then a farmhand's, especially for a Dutch-speaking an-alphabet who simply can't understand his francophone superiors, and Jan's nature is not complacent enough for military discipline even by todays standards, so he soon gets into all kinds of trouble, including gambling his capital away and a venereal disease. When his girlfriend back home goes looking for him, her life is doomed as well.

In 1833, when the fledgling Belgian kingdom still fears a Dutch invasion, recruits were selected annually from an age cohort by a draw of lots in each locality. In this grim, then contemporary drama by the 'father of Flemish literature', Hendrik Conscience, Jan Braems, a poor and naive farmers-boy, accepts the not uncommon offer by a rich family to sell his lucky ticket (out) to their son for a hefty sum compared to the miserable labor wages at the time. Army life is even harsher then a farmhand's, especially for a Dutch-speaking an-alphabet who simply can't understand his francophone superiors, and Jan's nature is not complacent enough for military discipline even by todays standards, so he soon gets into all kinds of trouble, including gambling his capital away and a venereal disease. When his girlfriend back home goes looking for him, her life is doomed as well.

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.

In this film version of the Dutch-language classic ('heimat'-)novel by Flemish author Felix Timmermans, the title character is a city-boy from Lier who after recovering from a life-threatening disease changes his life completely and his name to the self-invented Pallieter. He moves in with Charlote, a naive, caring relative in the country, where he starts frolicking, no longer caring for image, career or possessions, but concentrates on enjoying life -such as a draftee relative's Brueghelian wedding- and finds love with Marieke. A dark story-line however is when projected work on the river in the name of economical progress threatens the rural landscape they have fallen in love with...

This psychological drama begins after a young woman has committed suicide. Her husband, a cynical pawnbroker, sits desperately by her body. Through a feverish internal monologue and flashbacks, he attempts to reconstruct the events. He tries to justify his own behavior and subtly shifts the blame for the tragedy onto her, while the viewer unravels the destructive dynamics of their marriage.

Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.

Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.

Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.

After World War I, widower Renier has returned to his estate Horlebecq. His sole diversion is his correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, who he met during the war. Even though his family is pressuring him into marrying his sister-in-law Emily, Renier stays obsessed with Rolande and even visits her in Paris. She manages to persuade him to invest large sums of money into the "Academie de Beauté" in Paris. His reckless investments and breaking off his engagement with Emily leads to unbearable tensions at Horlebecq...

After World War I, widower Renier has returned to his estate Horlebecq. His sole diversion is his correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, who he met during the war. Even though his family is pressuring him into marrying his sister-in-law Emily, Renier stays obsessed with Rolande and even visits her in Paris. She manages to persuade him to invest large sums of money into the "Academie de Beauté" in Paris. His reckless investments and breaking off his engagement with Emily leads to unbearable tensions at Horlebecq...

After World War I, widower Renier has returned to his estate Horlebecq. His sole diversion is his correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, who he met during the war. Even though his family is pressuring him into marrying his sister-in-law Emily, Renier stays obsessed with Rolande and even visits her in Paris. She manages to persuade him to invest large sums of money into the "Academie de Beauté" in Paris. His reckless investments and breaking off his engagement with Emily leads to unbearable tensions at Horlebecq...

The second movie version, now in color, of Flemish (heimat-)author Ernest Claes' classical novel, titled after the nickname (Dutch 'the White', referring to a blond male) of the main character. The smart but naughty farmhands son's eternal mischief, pranks and disobedience drive his elders (especially teachers, family and father's grumpy employer, a rich farmer, but also neighbors and even the kind curate whose liturgical server he is) and classmates to despair in a time when a boy's punishment was still inevitable, swift and often severe; thus when his mother catches him skinny dipping she takes all his clothes home, forcing him to a long walk of shame, dreading dad's wrath all the way. This version also stresses the story's social and Flamingant aspects.

A father struggles with the administration when he comes to register his child.

An inspector of the Antwerp criminal investigation unit faces problems not only in his professional life, but also at home. When he is partnered with a young, over-confident colleague, he loses control over the case in hand.

Gaston grew up on the fringes of society and interacts with other people as little as possible. Leo, on the other hand, is a very bourgeois person. He lives way above his station, but has a heart of gold. Using forged cheques and unsecured credit cards, he tries to keep up appearances. By a coincidence, Gaston's fate is linked to Leo's.

This historical costume drama is a mini-series on the life of Flemish first-rate Baroque painter Pieter Pauwel Rubens (1577-1640), whose artistic success throughout Europe not only made him a fortune allowing him to stock his Antwerp residence ('Rubenshuis' in Dutch) and a castle at Elewijt, in the countryside nearer Brussels, with numerous fashionable treasures, but also became an ennobled diplomat for the Spanish Hapsburg rulers of the Southern Low Countries (now Belgium), who often traveled, for painting commissions and/or diplomatic missions, to and worked in Italy, France, Spain, all Catholic powers, as well as protestant England and the United Provinces (mainly Holland), also allowing him to meet other prominent contemporaries such as artists. It further covers his marriages to Isabella Brandt and Hélène Fourment.

In this silent film, a hermit living in the ruins of an old castle spies on and grows obsessed with a young couple building a home by the river.

A 40-year-old mother struggles to deal with the anxiety of growing older after her eldest daughter moves out and the youngest distances herself.

The captain of a ship in port has been entrusted with a secret government mission. He gives leave to the crew, but orders them to report back each morning. As the days go by, and the sailing date still remains a secret, the crew are thrown into a state of increasing uncertainty. The film concentrates on two crew members whose experiences are coloured by the omnipresent reality of the ship which is about to depart.

A pessimistic urban drama, with a musical score by Jack Sels and Max Damasse, charts in strongly expressionistically lit black-and-white images the wanderings of a tormented man through the cosmopolitan port city of Antwerp. The only people to show him understanding are an orphan and two disillusioned women.