This collection of previously unreleased short films is being released on the Avila streaming platform on the occasion of Mois du Doc, organized by the Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles from the 1st until the 30th of November 2024.
This short film program explores several Brussels neighbourhoods. These four films are charming and moving portraits of neighbourhood residents and together span a period of nearly 60 years, offering a special look at a city in constant transformation.
Brussels has many working-class neighbourhoods as well as garden cities such as Floréal, which were built in the 1920s. In Thierry De Mey's musical film Floréal, neighbours chat with each other through a hole in the hedge and children bang their sticks against a fence to the rhythm of the soundtrack. Les gens du quartier from 1955 shows a community of people in their working-class neighbourhood, which they rarely had to leave. With this, Jean Harlez made an extraordinary ethnographic sketch of a working-class neighbourhood and the many trades of its inhabitants. Forty-five years later, Thomas de Their and Karine de Villers filmed their neighbours. The street becomes the setting for disarming encounters, revealing how society is changing. Travellers and newcomers have now also found their place in the neighbourhoods. In Les cheveux coupés by Emmanuel Marre, children’s hair is cut by their parents. Families from different cultural backgrounds and neighbourhoods are immortalised during this intimate family moment.
This short film program shows in all modesty the connection between neighbours and demonstrates that every street contains many stories.
Discover the Brussels garden city of Floréal through the lens of a filmmaker who spent his childhood there. A short film that captures the relationship between architecture and residents as pre-modernist architecture comes to life, supported by rhythmic music
Discover the Brussels garden city of Floréal through the lens of a filmmaker who spent his childhood there. A short film that captures the relationship between architecture and residents as pre-modernist architecture comes to life, supported by rhythmic music
In a quiet Brussels street, two filmmakers film their neighbours, capturing personal stories and everyday secrets right on their doorsteps. An interesting portrait of their diverse city
In a quiet Brussels street, two filmmakers film their neighbours, capturing personal stories and everyday secrets right on their doorsteps. An interesting portrait of their diverse city
In different living rooms in Brussels, parents cut their children’s hair. We witness intimate moments between toddlers who resist or completely surrender to the tender ritual and parents who want to succeed in their delicate task.
In different living rooms in Brussels, parents cut their children’s hair. We witness intimate moments between toddlers who resist or completely surrender to the tender ritual and parents who want to succeed in their delicate task.
An old coco merchant is making his way through the bustling market squares of the Marolles neighborhood with a large beverage dispenser on his back, serving licorice lemonade to locals. A precious document of city life in mid-century Brussels.
An old coco merchant is making his way through the bustling market squares of the Marolles neighborhood with a large beverage dispenser on his back, serving licorice lemonade to locals. A precious document of city life in mid-century Brussels.