Three years after being taken over by French media giant Newen in 2019, Belgian production company De Mensen is as prolific as ever.
De Mensen is participating in this week’s Connext in Antwerp with a handful of new projects. Ivy Vanhaecke, who runs the company’s fiction department alongside Pieter van Huyck, says De Mensen aims to “focus on universal stories and authentic emotions” but with a local imprint.
This aim is reflected in World War II series Breendonk, which the company is showcasing in Antwerp. It is a passion project for its co-director Kevin Janssens, who is best known as an actor in films such as The Ardennes and Patrick. The series tells the story of Resistance fighter Rik, a prisoner in the notorious Breendonk camp, where he is under immense pressure to betray his comrades, and his girlfriend Elisabeth. In a desperate attempt to survive, he tries to win the sympathy of Vaes, a Flemish SS guard.
Due to shoot in 2024, Breendonk already has Flemish broadcaster VRT and the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF)’s MediaFund on board. Vanhaecke and her team are looking for coproducers. Janssens is writing and directing alongside Filip Lenaerts. The filmmakers have already secured access to the real-life Breendonk site as a shooting location.
By way of complete contrast, De Mensen is also presenting family musical This Is Vigo, about a boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who discovers his father is having an affair. He thinks he is the cause of the breakdown in the relationship between his parents, and one of his ways of coping is to take on another identity. The project already has distribution support from the VAF while Dutch outfit Pupkin is also on board. Casting is underway in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Heysel Stadium projects
De Mensen is also behind one of several new projects about the Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels, when 39 football fans died before 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus.
The De Mensen project, The Heysel Stadium Disaster, is a four-part series to be directed by Cecilia Verheyden. The idea is that viewers will be able to follow the four main characters (among them a police officer, a doctor and fans) closely during the disaster – Chernobyl style – so the viewer can come up with their own answer to the question of who’s guilty.
Separately, Eight Mountains producer Hans Everaert is also working on disaster film Heysel 85 through Menuetto Film.
“We don’t think we will get in each other’s way,” Vanhaecke commented of the two different Heysel projects. The series is set to shoot in 2024 for a 2025 release. De Mensen will be looking for Italian producer support at MIA in Rome after Connext.
Also being pitched at Connext is De Mensen’s high energy comedy Chameleon, inspired by the childhood memories of young writer Malik Mohammed and to be directed by Antony Nti.
Another title for the showcase is 3Hz S02, a series written by Edith Huybreghts, Joost Vandecasteele and Sophie Jans, and directed by Sander Brant. Aimed at children between 9 and 12, it is billed as a kids’ drama which deals with “real” subjects, from bereavement to climate change. Global Screen is the sales agent.
Close to completion is crime drama Rough Diamonds, set in the Jewish community in Antwerp, which follows the struggles of the Wolfsons, a prominent ultra-Orthodox Jewish family living and working within Antwerp’s world-famous diamond industry. It marks De Mensen’s first collaboration with Keshet, and is being directed by both Rotem Shamir and Cécilia Verheyden.
Meanwhile, De Mensen is screening Lost Luggage during Connext. The series has already screened on VRT and has been sold to Disney+, with Newen Connect is handling sales. Set in the wake of the Brussels airport attacks of 22 March 2016, it’s about half-Moroccan policewoman Samira Laroussa who has to return abandoned suitcases to the victims and their families.
“We want to engage audiences in every genre,” says Vanhaecke. ” If you look at social dramas, we have examples of that in our slate but also, lighter genres which will connect with audiences and will tell the stories in the best possible way,”
Under Newen’s wing
The De Mensen executive producer also talked of the benefits of being under Newen’s wing. The production subsidiary of French broadcaster TF1, Newen now houses more than 40 labels across Europe, including Dutch producer Pupkin, Denmark’s Nimbus, the UK’s Rise Films and Nordic group Anagram. ”The good thing about being part of the group is that we have a lot of freedom,” said Vanhaecke.
She highlighted the opportunity she has to compare notes with other Newen-owned partners. “You can talk about what the market is looking for. Every producer has the same struggles. Prices are going up. Some broadcasters are looking to invest a little more into lighter genres…you just need to be able to adapt. That is what we at De Mensen are trying to do.”
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