Here by Bas Devos will have its Belgian premiere in the Official Competition of the 50th edition of Film Fest Gent. The film previously had its world premiere at the Berlinale, where it won the top prize in the Encounters section. It was also announced today that Here will be screened in the Wavelengths section in Toronto and in the Main Slate programme of the New York Film Festival, a remarkable achievement for a Flemish film.
Here is Bas Devos' fourth feature and is the director's third film to be screened at Film Fest Gent. Both his debut feature Violet (2014) and the nocturnal odyssey Ghost Tropic (2019) were also selected in the festival's Official Competition. With Here, Devos casts his patient and human gaze on a Romanian construction worker strolling through the Belgian capital and its nature. It is a gentle, humanistic urban symphony with a green thumb that pays tribute to the invisible. And to mosses.
Synopsis
Stefan is a mild-mannered construction worker in Brussels about to leave for his homeland Romania. With the leftovers in his fridge, he prepares a big pot of soup to hand out to his friends and family as a farewell gift. Stefan's paths cross those of a young Belgian-Chinese woman devoting her PhD to mosses. Her interest in the barely visible intrigues him.
Bas Devos
Bas Devos was born in Zoersel, Belgium. Since graduating, he has directed two short films, The Close and We Know. His first feature, Violet, won the Jury Prize at Berlinale Generations in 2014. Successor Hellhole had its world premiere in the Panorama programme at the 2019 Berlinale. Three months later, Devos unveiled his third film, Ghost Tropic, at the Quinzaine des cinéastes in Cannes. His latest feature, Here, won the award for best film in the Encounters section of the 2023 Berlinale, as well as the FIPRESCI prize. Bas Devos teaches film at KASK in Ghent.
Here is a production by Quetzalcoatl in co-production with Kunstencentrum Buda, kunstencentrum nona, 1080, Proximus and Shelterprod, in collaboration with Taxshelter.be & ING, supported by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and Tax-Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government.
Imagine Film Distribution will release Here in Belgian theatres after Film Fest Gent. |
