CONNEXT 23

The feature documentary Ana + kek tells a very personal story, about twin sisters whose beliefs have taken them on very different paths. “I felt I was too close to the subject,” says Zohra Benhammou of why she turned to Romy Mana to co-direct the film. “I needed someone who [could] take a distance [from it], to guide me into the story.”

Organised by Flanders Image, a division of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), CONNEXT 2023 will unveil an array of Flemish doc projects, works in progress and screenings in Antwerp, 9-10 October. Additionally, Oscar nominee and Cannes laureate Lukas Dhont will curate The Future Five in which five emerging filmmaking talents are introduced to the national and international professionals in attendance.

Flemish producer Kristian Van der Heyden and co-director Jimmy Hendrickx updated BDE on the status of their project about the very real spectre of modern-day human slavery. The makers are looking to complete the film by the end of 2023 ahead of a Q2/3 festival roll-out in 2024. “I learned a lot from Jeremy about being an activist... I hope he has the courage to never stop the fight," says Hendrickx of co-director Jeremy Kewuan.

Flemish production company Panenka’s 6-part series promises to lift the lid on the highly secretive workings within the higher echelons of the Catholic Church. “Despite our skeptical attitude, we knew that if we wanted to hear the voices of high-ranking clerics then we needed to adopt an open yet firm attitude, otherwise they would never talk,” series co-writer Jo Badisco explains to Business Doc Europe.

Emmy Oost (Cassette for timescapes) is one of Belgium’s most innovative producers whose work invariably has a strong sense of political and social engagement. One such work is the new doc series She They Us - Towards an Equal Future by Sam Peeters, Heleen Declercq and Zaïde Bil which profiles seven people facing discrimination because of gender, sexuality, colour, age, class and religion. The producer talks to BDE.

The life story of Walter Arfeuille is an odd and perhaps even tragic one. He is a man driven by a quest for recognition who once strived to stand atop the competitive strong-man world in Belgium. Now, well into his sixties and struggling with physical issues, he attempts to grab a final modest headline, all watched over by a film crew who he thinks can help him prove himself to the world one last time.

The Flemish CONNEXT showcase, running 9-23 October, offers up 16 newly completed feature docs and two completed doc series, as well as three new projects (two features, one series) & five works-in-progress (3 features, 2 series). All will be presented to the international sales, distribution, finance and festival toppers in attendance both in Antwerp and online.

In this humorous and heart-warming documentary, the relationship between a 103-year-old mother and her mentally challenged daughter (62), who have lived together for years in a Belgian care-home, must be refashioned as their health begins to fail. Bye Mom is, at heart, a charming mother-and-daughter love story.

It’s over 30 years now since the night skies of Belgium were lit up by what seemed to be an invasion of UFOs. All these decades later, there is still fierce debate as to whether the visitation from the UFOs happened for real or whether it was an elaborate hoax. Bram Conjaerts’ new doc series project attempts to get to the bottom of the unsolved mystery. The director talks to BDE.

What starts as a story about humans, kidney stones and stones in a geological sense, slowly unfolds into a meditation on ecological grief. “We always say that stone is silent, it is dead. I wanted to do something opposite and bring it very much to life. The kidney stone is a metaphor for that,” says director Benoot.