Jan Roekens

Antwerp Central

ANTWERP CENTRAL takes the viewer on a journey through the physical and mental space of Antwerp’s railway cathedral, from its construction to the present day. The film covers three centuries of Belgian railway history: from the moment that the national railway company laid its first tracks to the development of the high-speed rail link in the 21st century. Echoes of Belgium’s colonial past and the location of the station in the centre of the bustling diamond district and next to the city zoo add a surreal touch as contrasting pairs, such as animal and human, nature and industry, baroque and modernity, dilapidation and renovation are complexly juxtaposed.

Fase

"Fase" consists of three duets and one solo dance, choreographed to four repetitive compositions by the American minimalist musician, Steve Reich: Piano Phase, Come Out, Violin Phase and Clapping Music. Reich allows his tones to gradually shift in rhythm and melody and between the instruments. The choreography applies the same phase-shifting principle. The purely abstract movements are executed so perfectly that they seem almost mechanical and yet affect us in a strange way.

Music of Tables

A short film for three pairs of hands and three tables, based on a notable composition by the director.

Sancta mortale

The story of Lieve, a young orphan who lives with her aunt in a house for elderly people. When she finds a wounded pigeon, she integrates it in her world of fantasies and is persuaded that the pigeon is Jesus.

Hey Stranger

An actor and poet falls in love with a former mortuary photographer turned waitress. They find themselves caught up way over their heads in a dirty political and financial affair, an art smuggling case that touches them merely for the fact that it may separate them, be it through death or exile.