[page turns] [in Flemish] [in Flemish] Lieven Vanhove is a thoughtful filmmaker with respect for the craft of visual storytelling, he finds inspiration from a variety of sources: Art Deco, architecture, film noir, music video, surrealism, and a love for lighthouses.

Born in Bruges, raised in Aalter Lieven lives and works in nearby Ghent, a medieval town, whose origins date back to 630 C.E.

Lieven and I hit it off.

I felt as if we were old college buddies reuniting after many years.

[Lieven] Hi!

[Stephanie] Hey!

[Stephanie] You live at 33!

[Lieven] Yes, I do.

In fact, we had never met.

though our movies had screened together at some of the same film festivals.

Lieven loves to tell stories, and is drawn to sad yet beautiful tales.

There's a poetry to his soul.

He creates honest stories within a visual atmosphere.

He admires the work of David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky, filmmakers we could have talked for hours about.

With a background in computer programing, having worked the gamut from bars to banks, Lieven is finding his own as a freelance filmmaker, trying to find that balance between creative freedom and building a stable life for himself and his loved ones.

I had the good luck to be able to visit Lieven twice for Cinema Nomad.

First, at the very start of the Cinema Nomad travels in 2018 when this series was barely a flicker in my eyes.

Lieven was living in Ghent and then again in Brussels seven years later to see Lieven as an older, wiser still determined filmmaker.

[In French] [In French] [In French] ♪♪ Steadee█s Back In The Groove ♪♪ Hi, I'm Stephanie the Cinema Nomad.

Join me on brand new adventures.

The world is a wonderful place, where people overcome incredible odds to make their mark.

We'll meet filmmakers who are as courageous as they are inspiring.

Cinema Nomad connects across cultures, to learn, explore, share, and carry on a heritage of cinematic storytelling.

♪♪ One, two, three, go!

♪♪ ♪♪ Upbeat, funky music ♪♪ Belgium.

A small but mighty country.

A beacon of democracy.

With a population known to rebel against authority, all the while remaining proud of their royal monarchy.

With a population of about 12 million, Belgium is bordered by France, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands and the North Sea.

Belgium is split into three distinct regions, divided by geography and linguistics.

Flemish speaking Flanders French Wallonia French Wallonia, and bilingual Brussels.

Belgium also has three official languages: Dutch, also known as Flemish, French and German.

Belgium has a lot of the things I love: chocolate, moules frites Peter Paul Rubens, and my man Magritte.

Did I mention chocolate?

Belgium is known for its diplomacy, medieval towns, and maybe even more so for its over 700 different types of beer.

[gunshot] Of course, Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

And perhaps, if you're a cinema nomad like me, the Dardenne brothers, and Chantal Akerman.

But what does it really mean to be a Belgian filmmaker today?

When Lieven first wrote to me, he alluded to breaking stereotypes, and the realities of a country caught up with a split personality.

“I don't use chocolate, waffles, Jean-Claude Van Damme and French fries in my movies.” “Belgian people are both worlds.

The country is divided into a French part and a Dutch part” “We are not a very proud country but we all have our characters” “We are little, but we are still different from the French and the Netherlands.” “Maybe we're a bit stubborn and go-getters.” I can relate to this tug of war, the internal push and pull, the outward deisre for attention yet the inward need for solitude It's a bit like being a filmmaker.

Ahh, But I grew up in a little town in the middle between Bruges and Ghent, a Flemish town.

It's called Aalter, where I lived together with three older brothers.

And... I always went to school there together with my friends.

So, it's... My dad, he bought a computer.

And then all of a sudden, we had a computer in the house.

So, of course, you, as a young boy, you would like to try to play games.

and all these little things.

But my brother, who was six years older than me, he started to learn programming.

And so he gave me a programming book and I thought, okay, I would like to invent my own games.

I was 12 or 11, so I tried to make, I don't know, if the name is... is it four on a line?

[Stephanie] Connect Four?

I guess it█s that.

[Stephanie] Yeah.

[Lieven] Stupid little game that I tried to program, and so I managed to do it.

And then I started to make these little quests in very 2D ugly drawings that I did myself.

And so I always had to dream of making computer games.

When I was 18, I had to choose what I would study further.

So I decided to do computer science first So I decided to do computer science first and to see afterwards, and to see afterwards, which was the most unhappy period of my life, because it wasn't creative at all.

And I really felt, I wanted to... make things come alive with the computer.

Despite its size, Belgium is located at a historic trading center of Europe, important to the economic well-being of the continent.

For centuries, Belgium was tossed around to various powers.

Entangled with France, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Its borders constantly shifting.

In and out of wars that leave a lasting impact.

Agriculture was already established in Belgium by Neolithic times, and by the eighth century BCE, Belgium was inhabited by Celtic peoples, who later formed several tribes known collectively as the Belgae.

The territory fell to the Romans, and in the fourth and fifth century CE, Germanic-Frankish tribes entered which is perhaps what begins the linguistic divides we still see today.

The following centuries brought along the Hapsburgs, Reformation and revolt, the Spanish Nethlerlands, Austrian rule, French occupation, and finally, Dutch rule created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, following the Napoleonic Wars.

France█s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo had a lasting impact on world affairs, ending Napoleon█s attempt to rule over all of Europe, and placing Catholic-leaning Belgium on a path to independence, recognized in 1831.

It would be a dream to direct for a living.

To invent stuff, to make up stories.

And even when they are little commercials.

So I hope when I█m 44, I have proven myself to be a “real filmmaker,” but because today I don't dare to say, like you know, that I am a “filmmaker.” I'm still doubting.

It struck me that Lieven says he does not yet feel like a "real filmmaker," as if he hadn't earned the title of “professional” yet.

I wondered, what does this mean, to be a “real” filmmaker?

Is it making a full time living and never having to worry about where the next gig will come from?

[Stephanie chuckles] I'm still working on that one.

For me, filmmaking is all about the intent; to express a vision creatively, to tell a story, and share your voice.

If you go out and continue to make films, perhaps you are a filmmaker.

[page turns] Who would have thought that quaint little Ghent, the historic capital of Flanders, was once one of the world█s largest cities, after Paris and Constantinople?

Sure, we're talking about the 13th century, but boy did Ghent flex it's medieval muscles.

Known for its exquisite textiles and fine arts innovations through the paintings of the Flemish Primitives, Ghent flourished.

You may have heard the story of the “Mystic Lamb,” adored so much that it was stolen, damaged, and restored on several occasions.

A mystery which became the subject of George Clooney's film, “The Monuments Men.” Ghent is an easily walkable town with loads of bars, canals, museums, international cuisine and home to three universities.

Lieven took me past a theater and told me about a play he directed in West Flanders called, “The Pattern,” based on Darren Aronofsky█s psychological thriller, “Pi.” I was drawn to the manifesto that was displayed outside this theater wall: It's not just about portraying the world anymore, it's about changing it.

A little tower perched on a hill.

Waves crash against the rocks.

A beam of light emanates.

Lighthouses are nothing short of enchanting.

Once used to guide sailors safely home, and warn of impending dangers, They're symbols of strength, stability, reliability.

Lieven loves lighthouses.

He collects them, dreams about them.

Even his films are influenced by lighthouses.

This is one thing Lieven has in common with celebrated filmmaker Raoul Servais, who grew up in Ostend watching the lights flicker off off of the lighthouse.

Born in 1928, in Ostend, Servais, an artist, animator and filmmaker, continued to experiment and expand the craft, having a big impact on Belgian art, cinema and technology.

He created a technique known as Servaisgraphy, a pre-CGI method to blend live-action filmming within an animated setting.

Today, Lieven uses similar techniques in his filmmaking process, mixing live-action narratives with highly detailed computer graphic worlds.

This takes an incredible amount of skill, time, patience, and attention to detail.

Servais first used his Servaisgraphy in his award winning “Harpya.” He later toned the process to his feature debut “Taxandria,” and perfected it in his oft-considered moth-masterpiece “Nocturnal Butterflies,” Inspired by the work of Paul Devaux.

I personally love Servais█ early works, “Harbour Lights,” “November Diversion,” and “The False Note.” Each have their own cheeky, offbeat, funny moments, still with sad undertones.

By “Chromophobia,” his tone is coming to form and you see the anti-Fascist, anti-Nazi, anti-oppression themes that come out stronger.

And by “Siren,” I really see his influence over Lieven's work.

The beauty and sadness, in loneliness, in longing for connection and understanding.

A self-taught screenwriter, Lieven wrote his first script at age 20, while still a computer science student.

His first short, “Nimmer,” took Lieven six years from script to screen.

He worked at every detail until it was met with satisfaction.

To me, To me, Lieven has what it takes to succeed in this tempermental industry.

So what obstacles still stand in his way for Lieven to feel that he is a real filmmaker?

for Lieven to feel that he is a real filmmaker?

Why is that?

Do you think, that you're doubting yourself as a real filmmaker?

Well, also because, other people make straight fiction, and I try to do always the mixture of animation with fiction.

And so I fall in the middle of two genres, I think, because I always try to mix it up: fiction with animation and visual effects.

And sometimes I feel like what other people are doing, And sometimes I feel like what other people are doing, for example, in Belgium, they do it maybe better, or they are, more known, maybe, it's not my intention to be known.

maybe, it's not my intention to be known.

But they get played on television and in theaters and movies.

So... I hope to be one day one of these guys, Where I've get to be known, “Oh Lieven, that's the strange guy with the dark animations and the visual effects.

So, we need something like that.

Let's go and ask him.

He will do it good.” So I hope that will happen.

Lieven█s directorial film debut, “Nimmer,” is a beautiful black and white 16-minute film which transports you to another world.

The film centers around the husband and wife in a fantastical seaside dream destination.

There's a lighthouse, a cliff, and the sea.

One day, the ocean opens up and torments the land, creating a crack in the earth, dividing the lovers onto two separate landmasses.

The visual effects in this film are stunning.

It is hard to believe that this film was made by a first time filmmaker, let alone by a man who isn█t quite sure that he█s a “filmmaker” yet.

♪♪ “Nimmer” Score ♪♪ [birds flap] [earthquake-esque sounds] [rocks come crashing down into the water] So then, when did the idea for “Nimmer” come about?

What influenced that?

Well, unfortunately I broke up with my ex-girlfriend at that moment and she was a graphic designer.

So we broke up, but we were still like trying to get to each other.

But we knew it wouldn't work out anymore.

But still trying.

And so a part of the trying was sending each other a lot of messages.

And that's maybe not the best idea but maybe we do it all.

And because she was a graphic designer, I loved to send her, like, imagery, which I... found on the internet.

And one was... it's in this file, too, It's the main image of “Nimmer” So I gave her this image, and she was: “Lieven, you should really stop sending me these, these depressing, images.” Because there is this guy and the tree, and out of the tree, birds fly away... And she thought that, yeah, the guy would jump.

And I was like, “no, of course not.” This is, for me, a hopeful picture, because there are birds flying away.

And I said with the cheesy sentence that, “those who can fly, they aren't afraid of cliffs.” So a bit cheesy, but in that way I started to write a black and white story about a man trying to get to his woman who lives on the other side of a cliff, far away from each other.

They each were once in their life, they were together.

And they tried to get to each other She, and he, are still sending text messages, or birds, something like that.

And they... But her world is collapsing in a way and he█s still trying to get to there, but, in the meanwhile, her world collapses.

And I thought, okay, let's do something with the birds.

And what happens you have to see in the short.

I really wanted to have live-action people and then fantasy world, because that way I could stress the fantasy of both of them.

Because they live in an invented world.

They...and still it's... approaching realism, which wasn't the intention first.

We would like to have it more stylized, but we ended up with more realistic rocks.

So... We did a lot of research on it.

I went to France, the... the island is an actual island in France, in which, And then my, the computer programing comes, there was this other guy, and he took the island, he took the Google Maps data and he raised it by 50m.

So we added the first mesh, and then I went to go there to see how the surface looks like.

And then we took pictures.

You can't imagine the details on all this, which I█ve worked.

In 1865, Leopold II became king.

Much progressed during this time in the areas of commerce, voting, equal rights across communities.

Despite all this, for many, it is difficult to look beyond Leopold's legacy in the Congo.

In 1885, the Congo Free State was declared after King Leopold II brutally seized this land.

Not as a colony, but as his own personal possession.

He privately owned the region that was 75 times the size of Belgium, and created an absolute monarchy.

Millions upon millions upon millions of Congolese died, starved, were tortured, and killed in the process.

died, starved, were tortured, and killed in the process.

While Leopold exploited their resources such as rubber While Leopold exploited their resources such as rubber and ivory.

[film clip audio] The Ngiri women go fishing in the well-stocked waters, and their equipment is extremely primitive, resembling rat traps.

The fish themselves release the spring of the trap when they enter the net.

Filmmaking has long been a powerful tool in creating perceptions, for better or worse, as how people see one another.

The person with the camera often has this power, and whether conciously or not, their images and stories make impressions.

The colonial films that came out of the Congo often had a limited frame, often had a limited frame, showing the Congolese as uncivilized, or savages, as stereotypes, as stereotypes, not giving any power or representation to the Congolese themselves.

The Congolese were not allowed to make films, only the Europeans.

And when the foreigners made films or took photographs, they were often staged.

Films were edited differently for an African audience than they were for a European audience.

The purpose was to show the Belgian Congo as an idealized modern colony, a unified Belgian Congolese community living in peace and harmony, rather than the social tensions and brutalities that were true to the times.

[page turns] There!

I accompanied Lieven, along with Sarah, his lovely girlfriend at the time on a house hunting endeavor.

The Belgium Dream: If there is such a thing?

Two stories on a quaint cobblestone street, walking distance to the market.

Lieven and Sarah had been a couple for about three years.

They were looking to own their first house together.

In Belgium, there was a common trend among 30-somethings to settle down, buy a house, have some kids, but not get married.

This is what most of Lieven's friends had already done, and he was feeling it was time for him to make that plunge himeslf.

Proof, I suppose, that he was making it in this world.

[Lieven] I guess it's a society thing, though.

Like some pressure out of society that view things need to go in a certain way.

We like to say it in Flemish: “you need to have a house, a tree, a cat, and some children.” Or a dog.

And a garden.

Yes.

Then you have it all set up, in a way.

But that's not what most people think of.

I mean, we all waited... ...long, and if it would depend on me, I would wait another ten years.

To be honest, because I love to be free.

Even though I█m together with Sarah.

[Stephanie] But the weight of supporting a family, and working as a freelance filmmaker was lingering on Lieven.

And he wasn█t sure if he could “have it all.” It█s not... So, it█s not that I don█t want it... It█s just that I█m afraid... of not being able making movies.

It's just being afraid when I buy a house, “Oh my God, this costs a lot of money.” I don't have a lot of money.

Will Lieven have to choose between having a so-called conventional life and supporting a family, or being a filmmaker working freelance from gig to gig, struggling to make his own films?

♪♪ rhythmic organ music ♪♪ [page turns] Boy, if I had known that Belgium was to thank for so much of the world's storytelling technology, I'd be kissing its feet long ago.

I visit the Cinematek in Brussels, a love letter to cinema history gadgets, where I learned about Joseph Plateau, an experimental physicist from Belgium.

Plateau invented one of the early devices that led to the advent of moving pictures.

A spindle viewer, which tricks the eye into seeing images in motion.

The Phenakistoscope.

Yes, it's a mouthful.

Some just call it the Fantascope.

It is also said that one of the world's first radio broadcast came from Belgium.

And if that's not enough to knock off your knickers, both Tintin and the Smurfs were Belgian born.

I learned that Lieven as a boy also had a knack for doodling comic strips.

Sorry for my mother, but we were obliged to go to church, every Sunday, and to be honest, I was a bit bored.

So... I started to look around in the church and I was, reinventing that 3D game I was telling you about.

And so all of a sudden, I had the idea of building, the total episodes of that game inside that church.

So I rebuilt the church in 3D.

But yeah, I put zombies on the wall and made lava everywhere.

And there even was a level at the clocktower, where there was other things happening.

So I invented a clock who would ring a bit.

After a while, I guess it was my father who discovered it.

And so he was mad, because he he would see what I did with that church.

Yeah, when I'm bored, I start to think.

I think.

And then I start to imagine stuff to make.

It sounds a bit romantic, but I... But I try to... I guess also, that was the first time I got interested in a bit of architecture.

One can trace the origins of the comic strip to medieval era monks who made copies of religious texts, embellishing them with a sort of illustrated storyboard divided into panels.

At least that's what I learned at the Comic Arts Museum in Brussels.

Yes, the comics are considered the “Ninth Art.” So what are the other eight?

I hope cinema is in there!

Skipping ahead a few hundred years, we find ourselves in 20th century Belgium.

The European leader of comic book publishing, Fernand Wicheler, a Belgian playwright, journalist, and filmmaker, is thought to be one of the 1st to create a full fledged comic.

He does this through a cinematic novel, a la his Le Dernier films And as early as 1929, Tintin emerges through the imagination of Belgian artist Georges Remi, known simply as Hergé, an inversion of his initials.

Hergé, born in Etterbeek, Belgium in 1907 became famous for his clear black ink, creating the “clear line” style.

In 1928, Hergé became the editor of La Petite Vingtième, a children's section of a Catholic newspaper.

And in 1929, the boy reporter Tintin and his lovable dog Snowy are sent on their first assignment to the Soviet Union.

Almost 100 years later, Tintin and Snowy are beloved around the world.

Hergé's 24 albums have been translated into over 110 languages.

I came to adore Tintin and Snowy Cinema Nomad█s mascot, Steadman became a huge fan, too.

[Steadman] Ummhmm, umhmm, umhm!

Back home I gobbled up all 24 albums, which by the fifth episode, “The Blue Lotus,” starts to put a special emphasis on anthropological research, travel, and curiosity of world cultures.

While visiting the Hergé museum I couldn█t help but notice that there were connections between the cinema of the day, and his aesthetics for each episode.

For instance, you can see elements of the 1935 film, “Captain Blood,” reflected in “The Secret of the Unicorn.” Charles Laughton's character in “The Island of Lost Souls,” influenced “The Black Island.” And Orson Welles from “F for Fake” inspired “Tintin and Alph-Art.” Tintin has also been made into several film adaptations, including, “Tintin and the Temple of the Sun,” “Tintin in the Lake of Sharks,” and Steven Spielberg's fun-filled “The Adventures of Tintin.” One of my favorite movies has long been “In Bruges,” a 2008 dramedy written and directed by Irish playwright-turned-filmmaker, Martin McDonagh.

“In Bruges” centers around two hitmen, who are forced into hiatus after a hit goes wrong for newbie assassin Ray.

They are ordered to spend a few weeks in Bruges, because their sociopathic boss thinks of the medieval town as a fairy tale, based on his childhood memory.

As Ray aimlessly wanders the streets of Bruges, fueled by boredom and his lack of desire to absorb in culture, Ray starts internalizing his life's choices, goals, and morality.

The result of which provides us a poetic, philosophical look into the human psyche.

I enjoyed seeking out the filming locations throughout Bruges' tourist filled Old Town.

Following the movie's footsteps shows you a nice variety of what Bruge has to offer.

From the bell tower on the famed Market Square, to the inland port of Minnewater to the fish market, and the Groeninge Museum, where Ray admires Hieronymus Bosch's “The Last Judgment,” to the romantic canals found all around the city.

And I couldn't resist stopping for a bite of a Belgian waffle!

Lieven and I walked the romantic cobblestone streets of Bruges.

We were just in time to explore the Christmas market, with the medieval village all decked out for Yuletide.

Over a hearty Belgium stew and a few pints of beer, Lieven and I continued to discuss his desires as a filmmaker.

I applied for new funds.

I'm trying to make a new movie, It will be a bit like “Nimmer,” but differently, of course.

But I will put the techniques a bit further.

I will use stop-motion.

And I would mix that with visual effects.

So that█s the strange thing... I█m at the beginning of this project, but I look forward to it, and let█s hope it will last me at least half of the time that it did for “Nimmer,” because “Nimmer” took me 6 years the maximum now I would like to do is 3 years.

but that's an absolute maximum.

Then I hope I learned from my mistakes of “Nimmer.” Seven years since first meeting Lieven, I headed back to Belgium.

In the interim years, Lieven has created works for musicians and live concerts.

He works as an editor for hire, and tires away at his creative dreams.

Personality wise, he was just the same as I remember, and I was happy to see him again.

His life, however, had changed significantly.

He broke up with Sarah, from his days in Ghent.

Now living in Brussels and brushing up on his French, Lieven has a French-Belgian partner with whom he has a baby girl and a ten-year-old stepdaughter, or as Lieven calls her, his “plus kid.” He is a proud father, still struggling with questions of balancing his creative ambitions while taking care of his family.

What is life like for you in Brussels versus Ghent?

How has... Has Brussels as a city inspired you at all?

Well, yes and no.

To start, I moved from Ghent, where I lived for 20 years.

But, so... sometimes I can feel a bit lonely here, or I still need to search a bit my way around.

Also to know nice places where I can film or take pictures.

Also, it's a big city, where Ghent is a little province-city for me.

Here you have... here in the co-working, where I work now, I guess we have 18 nationalities who are here.

So for me, Brussels, it█s also a bit the city of comic books, it's our history, surrealism.

Magritte.

And so my movies are also surreal.

And, uh... I love to think about Raoul Servais, who is also a Flemish animator, who worked also in Brussels.

So for me, I█m working a bit on that history, but I still feel a bit lonely and all, searching my way.

I used the opportunity of visiting Lieven as a chance to get to know Brussels better, and even got to catch up with my friend, Theda.

We met while running a marathon in Greenland.

The Brussels Capital Region is governed separately from both Flanders and Wallonia.

It is French and Flemish and international, with a population of around two-and-a-half million.

Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union and NATO, making it an epicenter of geopolitics and European governance.

The name Brussels derives from the swamp it was built on.

Perhaps an irony to the Habsburgs, who spent lavishly to shape Brussels into a prominent seat of power.

Like Belgium itself, Brussels is full of contrasts, from the opulent neoclassical squares and gold-gilded Grand Place to the infamous fountain statue of a boy peeing, the “Mannekin Pis,” to Victor Horta's celebrated Art Nouveau architecture.

In Brussels, I explored the “Comic Strip Trail,” a series of murals painted all across the city in honor of its comic strip legends from Blake et Mortimer, Lucky Luke, Gaston LaGaffe, Thorgal, Spike and Suzy, Le Petit Spirou, and of course, The Smurfs.

One former resident I was most interested in is the late, great Chantal Akerman, a leading feminist filmmaker, whose work carried on from the 1970s through the 2010s.

Akerman was born in Brussels to Holocaust survivors from Poland.

She briefly attended film school, but dropped out to make her first short, which she funded by trading diamonds on the Antwerp Exchange.

Akerman openly portrays women's sexuality on screen through films such as “I You He She,” in which the director also stars.

She is best known, however, for her 1975 film, with its title: “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” almost as long as the film's running time at 3 hours and 18 minutes.

Everything is so perfectly composed, and while the story is not action packed with plot, you build up to this emotional release by the end, that is as shocking as it is believable.

What does it mean to be for you, a Belgium filmmaker?

I don't know if the more appropriate question would be, what does it mean to you to be, a Flemish filmmaker?

Or how do you identify as a filmmaker, in your home?

I prefer to see myself to start as a Belgian director, not as a Flemish one.

And in fact, I'm funded by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund.

So they also promote a bit of Flemish thing.

But I decided not to use dialogue.

So that's also been my way of protesting.

Maybe.

Because for me, the Belgian identity, as I told before... the brothers Dardenne and we, they are all there.

But for me, it's more in the animation and then to the surreal history of this country.

Another favorite Belgium film of mine is “The Brand New Testament,” directed by Jaco Van Dormael, who garnered a bit of a cult following after the release of his comedy fantasy film “Toto the Hero.” “The Brand New Testament” is an absurdist comedy satire with plenty of heart to boot.

The protagonist is a 10-year-old girl, who is the little-known daughter of God.

Jesus█ kid sister, who lives with her mom and God in a dingy flat in Brussels.

Dad-God isn't very nice to her, and she escapes to create her own testament, having to first recruit disciples characters from across the city, culminating in a reunion at Brussels█ Cinquentenaire Park a lovely patch of green at the heart of the city.

I was very glad to see that Lieven was in the process of putting together the finishing touches on his second film, “Exit.” Though it took him 4 more years than the 3 he had hoped for, Though it took him 4 more years than the 3 he had hoped for, his work is a testament to the grit and determination it takes to be an independent, creative artist.

it takes to be an independent, creative artist.

it takes to be an independent, creative artist.

Like “Nimmer,” “Exit” is an exquisitely animated film, Like “Nimmer,” “Exit” is an exquisitely animated film, using a mix of live-action, with motion-capture, and visual effects.

Add to that, a heart-pounding original score.

Add to that, a heart-pounding original score.

Add to that, a heart-pounding original score.

“Exit” takes place in a crowded elevator, “Exit” takes place in a crowded elevator, “Exit” takes place in a crowded elevator, over where to disembark.ee where a man and a woman struggle over where to disembark.

In “Exit,” Lieven returns to the theme of lost love.

In “Exit,” Lieven returns to the theme of lost love.

In “Exit,” Lieven returns to the theme of lost love.

In “Exit,” Lieven returns to the theme of lost love.

Though the film is best described using his own words: Though the film is best described using his own words: “In a vast vertical maze, love is tested.” “In a vast vertical maze, love is tested.” “A man's chases a promising bright white light, “A man's chases a promising bright white light, “A man's chases a promising bright white light, o” Youll just have to see it for yourself!

In fact, I tell the story of Sarah and I. In fact, that's where the origin of lots of my short movies... Yeah, in fact, I love to tell what happened to me, so, it's also a bit, it could be a good therapy... To.... I even worked longer on this short than my relationship with Sarah lasted, so... But in fact, it's, the story of about two people who, need to learn to to separate.

I guess.

Where “Nimmer” was the story of a couple who wants to be together, but there are a lot of stuff... There's a lot of stuff going on which makes life difficult.

And even when you want it, you don't manage to be together.

“Exit” will be the opposite story.

It will be the story of a couple who needs to be separated, but they just don't know how.

but they just don't know how.

but they just don't know how.

And so I invented a different budesire for both of them.ow.

And the desire is symbolized by colors in the chest.

So I'm there again with the chest.

So I'm there again with the chest.

I always have stuff going on with chests in my short movies.

I always have stuff going on with chests in my short movies.

I don't know why.

Aside from the Dardenne█s, I struggle with modern Belgian cinema.

Many of the films I█ve seen coming out of the 1990s and early 2000s have convoluted plots with extreme uses of violence.

The pride and joy of Belgium's 1990s independent movement was “Man Bites Dog,” a mockumentary that is so brutally violent, I have trouble finding it funny.

Perhaps it was influenced by earlier low budget indie films such as “Brussels by Night,” which follows a depressed man who fails to commit suicide.

These films are celebrated for their moody, unpredictable plots, shot on a shoestring budget and breaking the mold of the slow Euro-dramas that Belgium was used to.

The film I prefer to highlight, however, is the Oscar nominated “Bullhead,” with a chillingly remarkable performance from Matthias Schoenaerts.

“Bullhead” presents a story and a world unlike I█d ever seen on screen.

The story centers around a family who lives in a small town in the Limburg province of Flanders, who works in the cow hormone buisness.

Yes, you heard me right: cow hormone.

The film deals with toxicity and vulnerability of masculinity in rural Belgium.

It demonstrates how a single event from childhood can shape the trajectory of an adult's life.

Belgium█s silent film era was led by a French actor and director, Alfred Machin, regarded as the “father of Belgium cinema,” who explored the country's culture, traditions, and natural beauty.

In the 1930s, Charles Dekeukeleire and Henri Storck founded the Belgium Documentary School.

Dekeukeleire and Storck were prominent figures in the avant garde film movement of the 1920s and ‘30s, producing such black-and-white wonders as “Images of Ostend,” “For Your Beautiful Eyes,” “Story of the Unknown Soldier,” “Boxing Match,” and “Visions of Lourdes.” The avant garde movement eventually transitioned into surrealism.

As a painter, Belgium-born René Magritte was a leader in the surrealist movement of the early 20th century.

His works influenced many greats to follow, notably the animator and filmmaker Raoul Servais, who won a Palm D'Or for "Harpya" in 1979.

During WWII, with German occupation impacting productions, the movie industry faced many challenges.

After the war, filmmakers such as André Delvaux helped bring the industry back to life.

His works, such as “The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short” and, “One Night a Train,” exemplify a magical-realist exploration of his character's inner psyche.

Delvaux was a rare example of a Belgian filmmaker who switched between making French language and Flemish language films.

To talk about Belgian cinema, one must ask, what is a Belgian film?

Can one even classify it?

What language is it in?

Where was it filmed?

Is it French-Belgian, or Flemish-Belgian, or maybe even German-Belgian?

Or is it just... Belgian?

Can you talk a little bit about this uniqueness of, say, Belgium cinema, because your country is multilingual?

Belgium, it's a bit a complicated country.

We have like let's say three main parts: Flanders, Brussels and the French-speaking part, Wallonia.

And you can apply for all of those to have funds.

In fact, to be honest, I really started to see the Belgian-French-speaking cinema together with my girlfriend, because she was French speaking and she started to see to practice her Dutch, her Flemish.

We are watching series in Flemish now.

So this mixture: we have a border between these two parts, between Flanders and Wallonia.

But apparently for me, we also you need to be really interested and to, to go on your proper discovery to... to go and discover the French speaking movies.

I█m a bit exaggerating, We all know the the brothers Dardenne, and the other way around also, but there is more happening then les frères Dardenne.

This may be hard to believe coming from a self-proclaimed “cinema nerd,” but, the Belgian-born Dardenne brothers were never really on my radar.

Making up for lost time, I watched everything from “La Promesse” to “Tori and Lokita,” with my favorite flick being “The Kid with a Bike.” “La Promesse” is a coming-of-age tale of a teenage boy, who watches his father take advantage of undocumented laborers, and the boy decides to take matters into his own hands.

This is a subtly beautiful film, and one of my favorites of their canon.

In 1999, “Rosetta” won the Palme d'Or.

Remarkably, “Rosetta” inspired passage of a new labor law in Belgium, named The Rosetta Law to help protect young, vulnerable workers.

♪♪ melancholy music ♪♪ I took a road trip around Belgium's battlegrounds and marveled at how much war has had an impact.

Most definitely within the landscape, and also in cinema throughout the ages.

It's a constant theme of fascination for storytellers, provocateurs, thinkers, and revolutionaries.

Going as far back as the early days of film, one of France's silent era masterpieces was Abel Gance█s 1927 film, “Napoleon,” which is heralded for having advanced cinema techniques of the time, playing with exposure, superimpositions and montages way ahead of its day.

I visited the site of Waterloo, in the Brabant province of Wallonia, to see the site of the famed battlefield, and imagine Napoleon's final stand.

About a century later, WWI devastated the landscape and towns of Belgium, especially that of Ypres in West Flanders.

For the locals, this was like the Hiroshima of the Great War.

World War II was no less brutal to Belgium.

Bastogne and its surrounds are testament to this.

If you've ever seen the limited series “Band of Brothers,” which I feel should be a masterclass in cinematic storytelling, you may recognize Bastogne from some of the scenes they portrayed that occurred through the Battle of the Bulge.

I visited many of the locations and historic sites depicted in “Band of Brothers.” Jack's Woods, where their foxholes remain; the town of La Roche-en-Ardenne, and the city of Bastogne, where the allies were headquartered, and where General McAuliffe infamously declared "Nuts!"

in answer to Japan's request to surrender.

From Bastogne, I drove to St.

Vith, a small German-speaking town in East Belgium.

My interest in St.

Vith lie in its unique cultural landscape.

Because the East Belgium towns were neither French, Flemish nor fully German, it occupied a kind of space in between, and it created a cinematic cross-border exchange of sorts.

In the 1930s and ‘40s, the role of the cinema-theatre space became influential in the crosshairs between dictatorship and democracy.

The cinemas in East Belgium showed films in both German and French.

So the citizens of St.

Vith and the surrounding Eupen-Malmady area, were getting a mix of cultural influences and access to a combination of information they were not able to see elsewhere.

Some movies that were censored on one side of the border could be freely shown on the other, such as “The Blue Angel,” which was banned in Germany.

Unfortunately, most of the cinemas from the ‘30s and █40s are gone, but their legacy lives on, as cinema continues to provide a voice and perspective to the people.

♪♪ Discotheque Music ♪♪ Is there anything you'd want the world to know about Belgium that, like if somebody knew nothing about Belgium, what... What would you tell them?

What would you want them to know?

That it isn't that bad.

The French and the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

Because when I'm abroad, I hear a lot of people like to talk about the difference between the Flemish people and the Wallonia people.

And unfortunately, that's true.

Like in every European country now people are getting a bit more right wing, but in fact it's okay.

[♪♪ hopeful music ♪♪] It feels like I█m in the middle of something but you don█t know the future very well because it█s still before you but you can█t go back to the time you had maybe lost trying to make films to proceed and to get experience.

Has the fear subsided, or is there still that underlying layer of.. of trepidation?

To talk about fear?

Well, I, because now I'm also tired and it's a bit of question, will I start another project?

I don't know, I also have to earn money, and short movies, you know, cost money.

So fear?

No.

I just need to find my way in professional life.

Still being 44.

... 42.

Sorry, I'm 42.

But all my friends, have... They are... at ease, at home.

They aren█t searching anymore.

But I... it█s also interesting to search, no?

I mean, the search drives your storytelling and your art.

Yeah.

You kind of need that search.

What does it take to be a real filmmaker?

Is it sacrificing the things that an average person values as part of leading a good and comfortable life?

Having a family shows that you are serious.

Having a house, being a breadwinner, stable, strong.

These might sound like antiquated ideas to some, and though the millennial Belgiums may take marriage out of the equation, thus making domesticity more "hip", it seems that the questions of stability, reliability, and strength are still being pondered as a staple of society.

The role a man in his 30s, certainly his 40s, is expected to step into.

Lieven, in essence, is the "everyman" of cinema.

A man caught between his desire for creative expression, and his human needs for shelter, comfort, family and loved ones.

When I left Belgium in 2018, after seaside jaunts to lighthouses, evening strolls on cobblestone streets, I left Lieven with a question mark hanging over his future.

This question mark still lingers.

And I can't help but think back to the sea.

The sea of Lieven█s film, “Nimmer.” The beams of light emanating from the lighthouse Lieven's desire to become that lone lighthouse attendant, craving the isolation and solitude, with the one simple task to keep the light burning bright, so that everyone out to sea can find their way home.

As a director, Lieven is that attendant playing with light and shadows, playing with light and shadows, writing his stories in isolation and guiding an audience in reflection of what it means to be human, both in sadness and in beauty.

[page turn] To learn more about the Cinema Nomad filmmakers and dive deeper into the exciting world of global cinema, Visit our website: CinemaNomad.TV [Steadman█s footsteps] Steadee on!

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