Johan Heldenbergh

The Misfortunates

13-year-old Gunther Strobbe grows up surrounded by alcohol, trash and his completely useless father and uncles. Slowly but surely, he's being prepared for the same hapless life. Can he defy his destiny?

Moscow, Belgium

‘Moscou’ is a densely populated working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium. Matty, mother of three, bumps her car into a truck on the parking lot of a supermarket. Johnny climbs down from the cabin. He is infuriated by the dent in his front bumper and yells at Matty. Although impressed by the accident, Matty fights back with sharp words. Their discussion turns into a row, and the police have to intervene. Matty goes home, the trunk of her car dancing up and down. Back in her apartment, Matty takes a hot bath to recover from the afternoon’s emotionswhen the phone rings. It’s Johnny, apologizing for his behaviour on the parking lot. Matty tells him to stay out of her life. A dramatic comedy begins about a woman whose soul is full of dents and bruises.

Turquoise

A trio of Turkish brothers immigrants find themselves torn between two lands and cultures, with roots in neither.

A Woman

Juliane, a police commissioner in Paris, is a woman with great moral integrity. But when she discovers her husband’s double life, she starts committing acts she never would have thought herself capable of.

Come As You Are

Three young guys like wine and women. They tested wine with pleasure, but the second they have never been able to taste. Under the guise of a wine tour, the three plans a trip to Spain to finally have sex. Nothing will stop them. Certainly not the fact that the first guy is blind, the second is in a wheelchair and the third is completely paralyzed.

Steve + Sky

A story about two struggling people who are trying to find their own place in the world. He is a small-time crook recently released from prison and she is a prostitute craving some love and affection. They find each other in an obscure part of Gent. Jean-Claude is responsible for their meeting ; he is also an ex-inmate who has just traded the low-life crime scene for life as a pimp. Will their love survive?

The Commander

One dark night during the early phases of WWII, the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini sinks an armed merchant ship sailing with lights out. At that moment, its commander Salvatore Todaro makes a decision that was destined to go down in history: to save the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise would have drowned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and disembark them at the nearest safe harbor. To make room for them on board his submarine, he is forced to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces and endangering his life and that of his men.

The Broken Circle Breakdown

The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians.

The Worst Ones

The story centres on a group of teenagers street cast in their neighbourhood and selected to play in a feature film during the summer. The film tells the story of this film shoot and of the connections that will be formed during it.

Amal

An idealistic and passionate literature teacher in a suburban Brussels school becomes the target of intense hostility from students and colleagues tied to Islamic extremism when she chooses to help a teenage Muslim girl accused of homosexuality.

Etre roi

On March 29, 1990, Belgium passed its abortion law. At last! On the same day, King Baudouin informed the Prime Minister of his refusal to sign the law, which he considered a serious matter of conscience, preventing it from being published in the Official Journal. What followed was a six-day black hole during which, in the greatest secrecy, the government's key ministers, and they alone, attempted to find a way out of this constitutional crisis.

Wanted: Man

When Bas puts up the note Wanted: Man on the notice board of the local supermarket for his single mother, she does not know about it. The self-willed Bas tries to find a solution for the separation between him and his mother, who no longer knows how to cope with Bas' superstitious compulsions. And both are hydrophobic. But by the end of the summer, the harmony between these two heart-warming characters has been restored.

inert

Casper is haunted by feelings of self-blame and post-traumatic stress after the loss of his father. As he grapples with his grief, he becomes increasingly isolated and is forced to confront the darkness within himself.

The Colors of Fire

February 1927. The funeral of Marcel Péricourt, the most powerful banker in Paris. His daughter Madeleine must take the helm of the financial empire of which she is the heiress. But she has a son, Paul, who with an unexpected and tragic gesture will place her on the path to ruin.

Through the Air

Vincent, a former air rifle champion lives a quiet life with his wife and his daughter. Despite his happy family life he ends up with economic problems. One day at the shooting range he meets the mysterious Renaud who promises him a solution to his problems by offering him an unusual job. Suddenly Vincent finds himself in a very dangerous spiral which turns out to be even harder to get out of than finding a solution to his economic problems.

The Zookeeper's Wife

The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.

Ad Vitam

When he and his pregnant wife are attacked in their home, a former elite agent becomes trapped in a deadly manhunt tied to his own painful past.

Belgica

The story of two brothers who, even though they have absolutely nothing in common, open a bar together that quickly becomes a regular hangout for nighthawks. Despite the success, they must soon face up to the difficulties inherent in running a family business. Their brotherhood turns into rivalry, through no fault of their own.

Tanguy's Unifying Theory of Life

Tanguy has big plans - the film script he is working on is almost finished. But meanwhile he still lives with his mother and her new boyfriend and he works as a cleaner. Tanguy is forced to swing into action when his mother tells him that the time has come to look for his own apartment. A cheerful film about Tanguy and his buddy Gregoire, and the setbacks they struggle through.

My Bonnie

Four members of a pour family from Ghent each have a memorable day.

A Day in the Life

Mario and Tom are two street punks who want to rob a bank. They ask the young Turkish Emin to be their driver that day. Emin can use the money and accepts, but he doesn't have a getaway car.

Swimsuit 46

Chantal, a chubby girl of twelve, is having a hard time finding her way throughlife. She doesn't have a lot of friends, and at home she can only turn to herstepfather for support as she doesn't get along with her mother or stepbrother.Only in the local pool, where she is training intensively for an upcoming swimmingcompetition, does she truly feel at home. But when she needs a new pair ofgoggles, things don't go as smoothly as planned and she takes everything to gethold of them.

The Confessions

A G8 meeting is being held at a luxury hotel on the German coast. The world's most powerful economists are gathered to enact important provisions that will deeply influence the world economy. One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk, invited by Daniel Rochè, the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret. The next morning, Rochè is found dead...

The Brand New Testament

God lives in Brussels. On Earth though, God is a coward, morally pathetic and odious to his family. His daughter, Ea, is bored at home and can't stand being locked up in a small apartment in ordinary Brussels, until the day she decides to revolt against her dad...

Gaspard at the Wedding

After keeping a careful distance for many years, 25-year-old Gaspard must renew contact with his family when his father remarries. Accompanied by Laura, an eccentric young woman who agrees to pretend she's his girlfriend at the wedding, he finally feels ready to set foot in the zoo owned by his parents, where he is reunited with the monkeys and tigers he grew up with... But with a father who is an out-of-control womanizer, a brother who is far too sensible, and a sister who is far too beautiful, he unknowingly sets himself up to experience the last days of his childhood.

A Ringing in the Ears

Six military musicians flee into a forest after an attack on their parade. In the chaos that follows, a wounded colleague is left for dead in the woods. Slowly, the unit disintegrates as each tries to escape from enemy territory and from each other.

55 Steps

The inspiring true story of Eleanor Riese, a mental illness patient herself, who brings a class action suit to give competent mental patients the right to have a say in their medication while they're in a hospital, and Colette Hughes, the lawyer appointed to her case.

Younger Days

A group of middle-aged former bandmates reunite to scatter the ashes of their deceased lead singer, only to have their bond put to the test by the unexpected presence of one of the friends' twenty-something girlfriend.

Carnivores

At the dawn of her thirties, Mona tries relentlessly to take off as an actress. Time passes and proposals do not arrive. Short of resources, she is forced to move to Sam, her younger sister.

Dumped

Françoise has just been dumped by her husband for a much younger woman. In order to cheer her up, and to celebrate her 60th birthday, sisters Rose and Alice decide to take their mother to a resort on the tropical island of Reunion so they can relax, work on their tans, and have too many margaritas. But when Rose pays a one-night stand, Thierry, to show her mother a good time, their holiday plans start to unravel.

The Hummingbird Project

A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.

The Breitner Commando

1959, France. Colonel Breitner is given a secret mission : find the body of his former aide, Colonel Delignières, who is reported missing in French Algeria, before the French army burns the whole place to the ground. Breitner puts together a team of five outlaws, who are promised freedom if the mission succeeds.

Porcelain

The lives of Anna, Paul and their little son Thomas seem perfect from the outside. Paul has a well-paid job, Anna has a home studio where she works with porcelain and Thomas is an angelic child. However, when Thomas bites one of his friends at school, the cracks of a context that is anything but perfect begin to surface.

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?

Cool Abdoul

The story of Ismail Abdoul, a promising young boxer getting caught between his sporting carreer and his rising fame in the criminal underworld.

My Dad Is a Sausage

A father leaves his unhappy job at a bank to pursue an acting career.

Any Way the Wind Blows

Antwerp, early June. On a sweltering Friday, eight people dream of a different life. There is wind and music, police and paranoia, gossip and arguing. There's an ancient virus, a lost Frisbee, a dead horse, and, wandering the city, an enigmatic phenomenon called Windman who feels everyone's pain but can't seem to help himself. In the evening a party awaits them...

Firmin

After almost thirty years, Germaine, Firmin's great love, suddenly returns to her hometown. Firmin is overjoyed and determined to win Germaine's heart back, but Germaine rejects his advances. Then Mohammed Boutrous, a young and talented boxer, seeks out Firmin. He wants Firmin to train him. Firmin accepts, hoping to regain his honor and the love of his life...

Encontro

the mobile phone of Alain, a belgium director in his fifties, appears a mysterious picture. Enough time to recognise Luisa, the portuguese actress he loved so passionately 7 years ago, during the shooting of his unfinished film.

Antonia's Line

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.