Stijn Coninx

Don't Shoot

In one fell swoop, nine-year old David Van de Steen lost his mother, his father and his sister in an attack by the Brabant Killers in Aalst. His grandfather, Albert, has the well-nigh impossible task of giving David a new perspective on life, a future.

Springen

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.

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

When the Light Comes

A young woman spends an adventurous winter with a trapper on Spitsbergen.

Congo Express

The story centers on Jean (François Beukelaers)—an ex-colonial and former mercenary—and his girlfriend Nadia, who together run the tavern. The bar serves as a gloomy crossroads where three different generations of patrons intersect. As these lonely individuals drink and collide, they confront each other's unfulfilled dreams, romantic illusions, hidden desires, and sudden outbursts of aggression. Trapped between their past actions and what could have been, the characters struggle with profound miscommunication. The film blends dark melancholy with sharp injections of humor, tracking a complex web of human relationships where everyone is simultaneously the hunter and the prey.

Marina

Italy, 1948. Young Rocco is growing up in Calabria, until one day his father Salvatore decides to leave to Belgium, where he strives to earn a lot of money by working in coal mines. Very soon he sends for his family. Rocco becomes a migrant overnight, with all the consequences this entails. Rocco wants to be like other youngsters, become someone and have a purpose in life. Against his father’s wish and better judgment he seeks an escape through music and love.

Priest Daens

In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

Sister Smile

A biography of the Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, who became a popular singer in the early 1960s and struggled with the contradiction between the church and her true self.

Don't Shoot

In one fell swoop, nine-year old David Van de Steen lost his mother, his father and his sister in an attack by the Brabant Killers in Aalst. His grandfather, Albert, has the well-nigh impossible task of giving David a new perspective on life, a future.

Springen

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.

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

When the Light Comes

A young woman spends an adventurous winter with a trapper on Spitsbergen.

Congo Express

The story centers on Jean (François Beukelaers)—an ex-colonial and former mercenary—and his girlfriend Nadia, who together run the tavern. The bar serves as a gloomy crossroads where three different generations of patrons intersect. As these lonely individuals drink and collide, they confront each other's unfulfilled dreams, romantic illusions, hidden desires, and sudden outbursts of aggression. Trapped between their past actions and what could have been, the characters struggle with profound miscommunication. The film blends dark melancholy with sharp injections of humor, tracking a complex web of human relationships where everyone is simultaneously the hunter and the prey.

Marina

Italy, 1948. Young Rocco is growing up in Calabria, until one day his father Salvatore decides to leave to Belgium, where he strives to earn a lot of money by working in coal mines. Very soon he sends for his family. Rocco becomes a migrant overnight, with all the consequences this entails. Rocco wants to be like other youngsters, become someone and have a purpose in life. Against his father’s wish and better judgment he seeks an escape through music and love.

Priest Daens

In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

Sister Smile

A biography of the Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, who became a popular singer in the early 1960s and struggled with the contradiction between the church and her true self.

Koko Flanel

Placide's dad tells him on his deathbed he'll haunt Placide if he doesn't find a wife soon. Placide cautiously agrees, but he only wants to settle for a very beautiful woman. That might be easier said than done, since he is a vagabond. When he accidentally enters a photo shoot, Placide meets Sarah. He falls in love, but she is way out of his reach.

Silent Bruges

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.

Exit-exil

The film follows Duke and Olivia , a troubled couple living in a gloomy city. Duke is a failed, alcoholic saxophonist, while Olivia works as a striptease dancer. Trapped in a toxic environment, Olivia decides to break free from Duke’s self-destructive lifestyle to uncover her past She was separated from her parents as a child, and with the help of a judge named Gerard, she travels back to her childhood home located on a garbage dump. There, the locals welcome her as the "Madonna of the landfill".

Stronghold

Wildschut starts with a violent casino robbery in Knokke. Criminals Jim and the badly wounded Charlie flee with the loot, but their car breaks down in the foggy Flemish countryside. They seek shelter and break into 'Wildschut', a remote, run-down farmhouse.The gangsters immediately take the resident Deleye family hostage. After Charlie dies from his injuries, the psychopathic Jim is left alone with the captives. A tense psychological mind game unfolds, filled with threat and humiliation as Jim plays the family members against each other.While a local police chief starts a clumsy search, tension builds to a boiling point. The father tries to fight back, leading to a bloody, explosive finale where the survivors must do anything to escape Jim's madness.If you want, I can also translate the film review into English, or provide the English cast list and international titles.AI-reacties kunnen fouten bevatten. Meer informatie

Sea of Silence

1969. Nine-year old Caro lives on a pig farm in a small town with her four other siblings and another on the way. She is curious and determined to understand the mysteries of the world around her. But her devout catholic father can't explain the new world and her mother is too busy for philosophy so she converses to God. One day at school she is horrified to learn that man will soon set foot on the moon. In her eyes it's not possible that God would allow anyone to get so close to Heaven. Her clowning father agrees and, unable to cope with modern-day progress, hits the bottle. Caro is preparing for her first holy communion to become 'a bride of God' but before that she seals a pact with her father to overcome her fear of swimming in exchange, he will not touch a drop of alcohol.

Hector

Hector's parents sent him to an orphanage in treatment for smallpox but... they never picked him up. 35 years later, he still lives in the orphanage, surrounded by children, his playmates. Till a forgotten aunt remembers that he exists. She'll get him to participate in the bakery of her husband, Achilles, to work. Hector shows his skills on the basis of unexpected inventions. So he helps Jos, the son of Achilles, to accomplish his dream to be a cycling champion. Hector's good humor and childlike manner overcomes all resistance and pulls his entire entourage along on the path to success. From now on he can learn what love is...

Blueberry Hill

Antwerp in the fifties. Robin de Hert grew up in a Catholic parochial environment; on the one hand there is his authoritarian father and the sadistic secretary of the Catholic boys technical school, on the other hand there are the 'Grieten' and the French teacher with whom Robin is getting a good band through a secret they share. If the secretary finds out about this secret, this has major implications for both the teacher and the students ...

Crazy Love

Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man, Harry, in search of love. The first is as a youth, the second on the day of his high school graduation, and the third as a lonely, middle-aged man.

Ay Ramon!

Max and Tikkelotje own an unsuccessful theatre company. When Tikkelotje notices Ramon - the faithful companion to Saint Nicholas - playing the guitar and singing, she decides to kidnap both him and Slechtweervandaag, Saint Nicholas’s trusty steed. Saint Nicholas is devastated, but eventually he pulls himself together and goes around the houses to collect the children’s wishlists. An adventure involving assorted people then ensues as he tried to beat the clock to rescue the hapless pair.

Hollywood on the river Scheldt

Overview of the history of cinema in Flanders.

Zaman

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.

Zware jongens

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.

The Lion of Flanders

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.

Het Beest

When he finds out that his company has expropriated his own mother, a successful young manager gets deeply upset. Money and power now have a different meaning. He needs to struggle against his own self and stake everything in order to reorganize true values in his life. His career is at stake. When his mother dies in the pension she's been put, his point of limit is reached. He feels responsible and takes revenge through terrorist actions. The beast explodes.

Sinterklaas en Koning Kabberdas

Riko Tik used to be bullied as a kid, now he want revenge. He falsifies the book of the Sint so that it looks like all the kids have been naughty this year. Disguised as king Kabberdas he goes to the house of the Sint to fool the holy man with the wrong book.

To Walk Again

Documentary on the belgian triathlete Marc Herremans who ended up in a wheelchair after an unfortunate accident and since has one one dream: to one day be able to walk again.

Anneliezen

De Kavijaks

Dag Sinterklaas

Het Peulengaleis