Connext, the annual industry showcase for new films and TV dramas made in Flanders and Brussels, will present new projects from some of the region’s leading filmmakers including Kevin Janssens, Veerle Baetens, and Fien Troch.
The 2022 hybrid edition will run onsite in Antwerp from October 9-11 and online from October 10-24.
The 82 titles being presented range from project pitches to works in progress through completed films and series.
Many familiar names from Flemish film and TV are participating. Janssens will be pitching his new TV series Breendonk, a drama set in a Nazi prison camp. Baetens, star of the Oscar-nominated Broken Circle Breakdown, will both be giving a keynote interview and presenting her feature directorial debut, when it mel now in post-production. When It Melts was picked up by the Party Film Sales after last year’s event.
New feature film pitches include Heartbreak For Beginners by Bavo Defurne and Yves Verbraeken, and Ish and Monir Ait Hamou’s Brussels-set drama BXL.
Dimitri Verhulst, the author ofThe Misfortunates, made into a hit film in 2009 by Felix Van Groeningen, is to pitch his directorial debut, The Weeping Walk.
Established auteur Troch is presenting her latest feature Holly as a work in progress screening.
Peaky Blinders director Tim Mielants will be in town with his work-in-progress drama Will, set in wartime Antwerp.
Thom Vander Beken’s project pitch The Last Jewish Summer deals with a still sensitive subject, the story of how the Jews of Antwerp were arrested and deported in the summer of 1942.
Also receiving works in progress screenings are Skunk, the latest feature from Koen Mortier (Ex-Drummer), a new untitled project by Bas Devos (Hellhole) and The Silent Treatment from festival regular, Caroline Strubbe.
Finished films
Robin Pront’s Zillion is one of the completed titles screening. Among the documentary projects likely to pique international buyer and festival director interest are A Hiphop Minute by Pascal Garnier, Manu Riche’s Carbon; Slave Island by Jimmy Hendrickx and Jeremy Kewuan, and Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat.
On the TV front, Cecilia Verheyden is pitching The Heysel Stadium Disaster, about the disastrous European Cup football final between Liverpool and Juventus in 1985, while Malin-Sarah Gozin (the showrunner behind Clan) is pitching Dead End.
Triumphant return
The 2020 and 2021 editions of Connext happened online. The event is acknowledged as playing a crucial part in the promotion of Flemish filmmaking which, in recent years, has enjoyed spectacular success internationally. It was here that such films as Close by Lukas Dhont and Rebel by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were first discovered by distributors and festival programmers.
Connext was conceived as a standalone event in 2016 by Flanders Image executive Christian De Schutter who recognised Flanders lacked its own coproduction forum and screening showcase - and realised that local festivals weren’t ready to step into the breach. He explained to Screen why the event has maintained its online presence even after the pandemic.
“This hybrid format also allows us to present far more titles than we would be able on-site.The hybrid version allows us to have live presentations of works in progress of feature-length content, pitches of TV series, screenings of a selection of recently completed titles, plus, as a test, four immersive titles,” De Schutter explained.
“All these are also available online, 24/7, with pre-recorded pitches, presentations, etc. But online, we also add pitches of feature-length projects, works in progress of series, and more screenings of completed works. We feel that, in these trying times, it’s really necessary to support as many filmmakers as possible to reach out to international professionals.
For the first time, there is also a small immersive section. This includes Thom Vander Beken’s latest project, The Interview, which puts the participant in the position of an immigration officer.
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