Jan Decleir

예전처럼 가족이 가까이 지내길 원하는 엄마는 크리스마스를 맞이해 산악 스키 여행을 준비한다. 크게 당황한 할아버지와 쥘은 '가족과 함께 보내는 시간'이라는 여행 의도가 무색하게 호텔에서 비밀리에 작전을 수행한다. 엄마는 둘을 이해하지 못하고, 오빠가 보고 싶은 노르는 모든 동생이 할 법한 일을 저지른다. 그건 바로, 대놓고 혹은 몰래 오빠가 가는 곳마다 따라가는 것. 그 결과 피할 수 없는 일이 발생하고 노르가 크리스마스 세계를 발견하게 되면서 한바탕 소동이 일어난다. 노르는 고민에 빠진다. 왜 나는 오빠처럼 산타클로스가 될 수 없는 거지?

산타의 유일한 임무는? 바로 선물을 배달하는 거지. 하지만 할아버지로부터 산타 임무를 넘겨받은 쥘에게 어떤 꼬마의 편지가 날아들면서 고민이 시작된다. 편지에 적힌 소원을 들어줘, 말아?

아픈 기억 때문에 크리스마스가 싫은 소년. 할아버지의 장난감 가게에서 신비한 장식을 발견한 후, 가족의 비밀을 알게 된다. 소년은 슬픔을 딛고, 위기에 빠진 크리스마스를 구할 수 있을까

How the last King of the Belgians becomes the first Emperor of Europe.

A short film about our climate, our conscience and our future.

In 1885, Africa is a succulent cake destined to be wildly divided and everyone wants a piece. A disturbed European king, a Pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a successful but lonely businessman, an enslaved porter, a young army deserter, a ghostly clarinetist. Some benefit from colonialism and greed. Others suffer racism and violence.

Who's keeping the citizens of a Belgian provincial town out of their sleep? Is it Santa Clause?

In one fell swoop, nine-year old David Van de Steen lost his mother, his father and his sister in an attack by the Brabant Killers in Aalst. His grandfather, Albert, has the well-nigh impossible task of giving David a new perspective on life, a future.

Dode Hoek (Blind Spot) is the story of Jan Verbeeck, the uncompromising commissioner of the Antwerp drug squad. Known as Mr. Zero Tolerance, he is hugely popular with the people and the media. The country is thrown into commotion when he announces that he is leaving the police force just before the elections to join the extreme right party, VPV. On his last day as a policeman, he leads an investigation that takes him to Charleroi where a raid on a drug lab sets in motion a series of unforeseeable and fatal events.

Max and Tikkelotje own an unsuccessful theatre company. When Tikkelotje notices Ramon - the faithful companion to Saint Nicholas - playing the guitar and singing, she decides to kidnap both him and Slechtweervandaag, Saint Nicholas’s trusty steed. Saint Nicholas is devastated, but eventually he pulls himself together and goes around the houses to collect the children’s wishlists. An adventure involving assorted people then ensues as he tried to beat the clock to rescue the hapless pair.

Young journalist Sebastian Zöllner is writing an article on artist Manuel Kaminski. Zöllner hopes that Kaminski dies soon, so that he can cash in on his article.

1985. Georges is a born market vendor. As a driven salesman he sells anything, anytime, to anyone. When he hears that the Pope is coming to Belgium, he smells his chance. In addition to the grounds, where tens of thousands of believers will attend an open-air mass, Café Derby is for rent. Georges is sure to earn a small fortune. But his wife and five children are not convinced. It would be another move in too short a time. But as George puts his mind to something...

로얄패밀리 출신, 절대적 부를 가졌지만 태어나 단 한번도 뜨거운 인생을 살아 본 적 없는 남자 ‘야콥’. 죽는 것도 마음대로 되지 않는 인생을 한탄하던 그는 우연한 계기로 다양한 죽음 여행 상품을 제공하는 비밀스러운 회사 ‘엘리시움’을 찾아가게 되고 그 곳에서 운명처럼 여인 ‘안나’를 만나게 된다. 처음에는 엉뚱한 여자라고 생각했는데... 점점 사랑스럽고 솔직한 ‘안나’의 모습에 난생 처음 사랑의 감정을 느낀 ‘야콥’. 그녀로 인해 제 2의 인생을 살고 싶어진 바로 그 순간, ‘엘리시움’의 계약 조항이 그의 발목을 잡는다. “한 번 계약한 이상, 여행은 절대 미루거나 파기할 수 없습니다” 어때요... 이 여행, 구미가 당기시나요?

Belgium short film

뉴욕의 잘나가는 펀드매니저 ‘콜린’(제이미 도넌)은 중동의 부호 ‘셰이크’가 경쟁회사에 투자를 결정하려고 하자, 비둘기가 알라신을 도왔다고 믿는 그의 맘을 돌리기 위해 바르셀로나 세계 비둘기 경주대회에서 우승이 유력한 비둘기 ‘위테콥’을 가져오겠다고 약속한다. ‘위테콥’의 주인인 ‘조’가 있는 벨기에로 간 콜린은 1차 대전 때 그곳에서 전사한 것으로 되어 있는 증조부의 흔적을 찾는다는 핑계로 ‘조’의 손녀 ‘이자벨’(샤를로트 드 브륀)에게 의도적으로 접근하고 결국 그녀의 마음을 얻는데 성공한다. 하지만 처음 의도와는 다르게 ‘이자벨’에게 끌리는 자신을 깨닫게 된 ‘콜린’은 일과 사랑 사이에서 갈등하게 되는데…

Nine year old Finn lives with his father in a small town. Together with his best friend Erik he plays football, but he prefers to play music. His dad wants him to play football, just like every other kid his age. Finn does not understand why, but his father doesn't want to talk about it. When Finn meets a mysterious old man, who plays the violin beautifully, he decides to learn how to play the violin as well. The old man teaches him, while Finn's dad thinks he is playing football... Is Finn the only one who sees the magic of music? What does his father hide?

Sint and his mischievous assistant Zwarte Piet enjoy collecting children's letters at night, but lose a whole bag.

Gerrit de Veer, a novice writer on a 16th-century Dutch merchant vessel, chronicles the daring mission to discover a trade route across the North Pole to Asia. But the heroic journey turns into tragedy when the ship gets stuck in the relentless, penetrating ice. The men are forced to spend the winter on the frozen, arctic wasteland of Nova Zembla, fighting polar bears, hunger and lethal temperatures. Their chances of making it until the following spring are virtually zero.

The poem well integrated in the film, was interpreted by writer/actor/painter Pjeroo Roobjee. The project is melting pot of poetry, animation and music resulting in a 20 minute short film.

A frank and funny romantic comedy set in Antwerp, filmed in a quirkily inventive style, Madly in Love has a lot to say about human relationships. It focuses on the four women of the Miller family: teen daughter Eva, her mother Judith, aunt Barbara and older half-sister Michelle, as they work their way through the chaos called love. The result is a roller coaster ride of first crushes, lust, affairs, baby fever, and indestructible love. The four women are beautiful, courageous and sensible, but are also sometimes a bit lost. Can their male counterparts handle this dangerous cocktail of determination and female hormones?

Marieke wants to live her life. But how can she succeed if love has been taken away from her? She seeks warmth in the arms of much older men to find the strength to face the past and finally be herself. Marieke is 20 years old. She lives with her mother, Jeanne, a woman left cold and distant ever since her husband died. During the day, Marieke works in a Brussels chocolate factory. At night, she escapes into the arms of much older men. With them she feels strong, cherished and free. The arrival of Jacoby, a book editor living abroad, searching for her father's last manuscript, upsets Marieke's precarious balance. Her mother does everything in her power to keep them apart. She fears that he will reveal the secret that has remained hidden for so many years. Marieke falls in love with Jacoby but devastated by the truth of her father's death, she sinks despair. Will she find the strength to accept the truth and live anew?

The film starts with the main character Laura, a young woman with advanced cancer, entering quite upset the home of her parents and claiming to have stopped chemo therapy and having left her husband. The worried parents call the other three adult daughters into the house and they arrive one by one. For the first time in 6 years the entire family is united again. The characters are drawn as tensions rise from old conflicts and as the situation sinks in that Laura might be terminally ill. The movie eventually shifts from a lively sometimes comical beginning into the serious theme of dying and does handle this quite tactfully and moving. While the film touches on many areas surrounding death (including religion, graveyard, care, eutanasia) the main focus is on the transformation of the characters that are thrown out of their busy lifes into this situation, eventually accepting it and dealing with it.

Les Barons ont une devise : "glander plus pour vivre plus". Chaque être humain naît avec un crédit de pas. Chaque pas effectué te rapproche de la mort. Nous, les Barons, on le sait dès le départ.

Four girls discover a primitive hidden village where everybody falls asleep and all children are gone.

A biography of the Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, who became a popular singer in the early 1960s and struggled with the contradiction between the church and her true self.

도시 한 가운데의 비밀 공간 ‘로프트’. 한 여자의 시체 그리고 다섯 명의 용의자. 가족, 명예, 돈. 모든 것을 충족한 다섯명의 중년 남성 친구들은 단 한가지 고민이 있다. 흔적을 남기지 않고 그들의 판타지를 채워 줄 공간이 필요한 것. 유능한 건축가 빈센트는 자신이 지은 건물에 비밀스런 펜트하우스를 만들고 다섯 개의 열쇠를 나누어 주며, 각자의 밀회를 즐긴다. 그러던 어느날, 로프트에서 밀회를 즐겼던 흔적과 한 여자의 시체가 발견된다. 다섯 남자들은 엄청난 충격에 빠지며 서로가 범인이 아니라고 강력히 주장하지만, 범인은 이들 중 한 명인 것이 분명하며 서로의 비밀을 폭로하고 의심하기 시작하는데..

In the sequel to "Winky's Horse", 8-year old Winky looks after the horse of St Nicholas. Then one day the horse runs away.

On the day of his forced retirement, a grumpy school principal decides, together with his neighbour, to search for a wife on the Internet...

Konraad, 83, has written a letter to his relatives saying he wants to die. Maria, Konraad's daughter and only child, refuses to discuss her fathers wish. Instead, she wants to move him to a flat for elderly people. Her two grown daughters Sabine and Eva have problems of their own. Sabine has a troubled marriage and her eldest daughter Haas is too wise for her age. Eva is in therapy, recovering from an abortion. Ernst, Marias husband, is the only one who takes an interest. He decides to help Konraad realize his last wish. In doing so, he crosses his wife and increases the already existing distance between them.

Na bijna dertig jaar keert Germaine, Firmins grote liefde, plots terug naar haar geboortestad. Firmin is dolgelukkig en vastbesloten Germaine's hart te heroveren, maar Germaine wijst zijn avances af. En dan zoekt Mohammed Boutrous, een jonge en getalenteerde bokser, Firmin op. Hij wil dat Firmin hem traint. Firmin accepteert, in de hoop zo zijn eer én de liefde van zijn leven terug te winnen...

앞을 보지 못하는 ‘루벤’. 후천적으로 시력을 잃고 짐승처럼 난폭해진 그를 위해 어머니는 책을 읽어주는 사람을 고용하지만 다들 오래가지 못해 그만둔다. 새로운 낭독자로 온 ‘마리’가 첫만남에서부터 루벤을 제압한다. 마리는 어릴 적 학대로 얼굴과 온몸에 가득한 흉측한 상처와 남들과 다른 모습에 사람들의 시선을 피해 다니지만 볼 수 없는 루벤 앞에서만은 자신을 드러낸다. 루벤은 [눈의 여왕]을 읽어주는 마리의 기품 있는 목소리와 단호한 행동에 관심을 갖고, 마리를 아주 아름다운 모습일 거라 상상하며 사랑에 빠진다. 누군가에게 사랑 받는 것이 처음인 마리 역시 낯선 이 감정이 사랑임을 깨닫고 마음을 연다. 하지만 루벤이 수술로 눈을 치료할 수 있게 되면서 마리는 자신을 보고 실망할 것이 두려워 그의 곁을 떠난다. 이제 모든 것을 볼 수 있게 된 루벤은 사라진 마리를 찾아 방황하는데…

Cinema version of the 5 part TV series. During World War II, Stan Vandewalle saves boxing trainer Max from the bombed German war prisoners camp, and shoots two German soldiers while escaping. After the war, Stan resolves to put all his frustration over the death of his slow-witted brother Aloïs, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, with his side-car against a farmer's truck in making come true Aloïs other dream, to see Stan becoming 'king of the world' as boxer.

This is a portrait of an old man who is kept locked up in the attic by his daughter with the excuse that outside it continuously rains. The man escapes in his imagination, carving wooden animals. Suddenly he realizes that the Flood is about to happen.

There is only one thing Winky wants: a horse, a real horse to ride. But horses are expensive. Fortunately it is the season of Sinterklaas; Winky just asks Sinterklaas for a horse. Than everything will work out alright. Or will it?

Businessman Christian Vandenheuvel planned to spend the long weekend with his young mistress, Lisa. Instead, they're take hostage by Jos Diels and Nick, two of the 46 laborers who lost their job recently when Christian had his family film bankrupted. Each victim fails to escape, even the fire alarm doesn't get them freed. After Jos realizes the mistress is his only daughter, and Nick falls in love with Lisa, the masked men's mood evolves as they progress to truth time, when the police arrives.

March 11th, 2002. John R. takes the head of security and 17 others hostage in Amsterdam biggest skyscraper. John R. demands to speak with the Philips head of Sound&Vision. His goal is to warn people about a large-scale fraud, aimed at brainwashing consumers by means of widescreen TV sets. In the film, we find out about John's preliminary frustrations, his bizarre encounter with Philips head of Sound&Vision Gerard Wesselinck, their impossible friendship, rivalry and John's armed attempt to force the executive to do penance in public.

Sarah, a beautiful and gifted 15-year-old from a wealthy but chaotic family, holds on to one dream: to run away from home and to become a professional ballet dancer.

Cologne towards the end of the Second World War. The city is in ruins, everyone is afraid, many are dead. It is a time of great inhumanity. Cologne’s young Edelweiss Pirates refuse to submit to the pressure of the Nazi regime. They fight with the Hitler Youth and scrawl anti-war propaganda on walls. Karl is an Edelweiss Pirate; his younger brother, Peter, is in the Hitler Youth movement. The two young men have been alone ever since their mother’s death in a bombing raid; their father is serving at the front, and their older brother, Otto, has been killed in action. Otto’s financée, Cilly, is doing her best to survive the war with her children. Carl is trying to help her.

Armin is in crisis. One fateful day he discovers he is infertile and has been throughout his life. From this he discovers his first wife, Monika, was unfaithful before she died. How else could she have the child that Armin always thought was his? His paranoia drives him to find the truth.

Claire and Pierre's marriage hits the skids after Claire, pregnant with twins, feels that one embryo is crushing the other and decides to abort half the pregnancy.

벨기에 앤트워프 경찰인 빙케와 프레디는 아동 성매매 사건을 수사하다 범인인 퀴퍼스를 사살하게 된다. 은퇴하고 싶어하는 늙은 살인청부업자 레다는 의뢰를 받고 판 캄프라는 사람을 살해하지만, 성매매 대상이었던 열두 살 소녀 비이케를 죽이는 것은 거부한다. 레다는 알츠하이머병에 걸려 기억을 조금씩 잃어가고 있다. 그러나 얼마 후 비이케가 시체로 발견되자 빙케와 프레디가 수사를 맡는다. 레다는 자신에게 의뢰를 했던 자들의 치부를 알게 되고 그들을 응징하기로 결심한다...

An explicator of silent movies falls in love with the star of film he's accompanying.

When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?

A mystery hidden for generations. Now the truth will finally be revealed.

All young Justin and his father want to do is sit down and enjoy watching a soccer game together. When this simple act sparks a chain of events leading to Justin running from the law, the boy must now embark on a thrilling adventure to reunite with his father. In order to fight the system, however, he must enlist the help of a former anarchist, and together they'll need to apply the secret of the Hop.

In 1913, a young woman starts work as a maid in a seedy Parisian boarding house full of eccentrics. When she falls in love with one of the guests, she must choose between her son and her new romance.

A Flemish family comes together in their maternal home. Oscar, the grotesque patriarch, his bedridden wife Magda, his feeble son Johnny and his daughter Julia, who's married to a Moroccan soccer player. There's something wrong with Magda, who's not only plagued by her physical decay, but also by visions of her dead sister Marleen.

A family film, based on a well-known Dutch story from the Middle Ages. Mariken tells the compelling and poetic story of spirited young girl named Mariken. The orphan Mariken lives in a secluded forest with an eccentric old hermit. One day, she decides to leave her surroundings and sets off for town to buy a new goat. On her adventurous journey into the 'real' world, she finds out about the good and bad sides of people.

Story of two con men, Boorman and his younger assistant Laarmans, who are trying to sell companies their non-existing magazine.

The film is based on the popular Dutch childrens book by Chris van Abkoude. In a Dutch port in 1921 lives a 10-year-old orphan boy known to everyone simply as Little Crumb. His poverty-stricken mother Lize van Dien filled with shame was forced to turn him over to Mrs. Koster soon after he was born. Foster mother Mrs. Koster, who has cared for him since he was a baby, is very poor too, unable to support him by herself and proves to be a cruel taskmaster who insists Crumb bring her money before shell feed him. Somehow he must earn his keep out on the streets and can only go home after he has earned enough money. Crumb becomes an urchin stealing from the streets barrows and the shops to stay alive, sleeping in churches or huddled in doorways. Sometimes he has to run off from the police and he has earned the enmity of the most grownups around him.

The tale of the extraordinary life and times of Lucky, a horse that was born in captivity but achieves his dream of running free with the help of a stableboy.

The true story of the 19th century Belgian priest, Father Damien, who volunteered to go to the island of Molokai, to console and care for the lepers.

In pre-WWII Holland, the penniless, illegitimate son of a powerful bailiff sets out to become a lawyer as he spends a lifetime struggling to prove his worth to his relentlessly spiteful father.

On a Belgian beach at Camping Cosmos. The delegate send by the Ministry is confronted with sex and murder. The residents enjoy their holidays in a peculiar way...

2차 세계대전이 끝난 네덜란드의 어느 마을. 안토니아(Antonia: 빌레케 반 아메루이 분)는 어머니 일레곤다(Allegonde: 도라 반 더 그로엔 분)의 임종을 지키기 위해 열여섯살 된 딸 다니엘(Danielle: 엘스 도터만 분)과 고향으로 돌아온다. 마을에 들어서면 올가(Olga: 프랜 월러 제퍼 분)의 카페 담벼락에 "환영, 우리의 해방군"이라고 갈겨 쓴 낙서가 보인다. 나치를 몰아낸 미군을 환영했던 이 낙서가 이제 안토니아를 맞이하고 있는 듯 하다. 권위에 찬 성당신부가 주재하는 일레곤다의 장례식이 열리고, 마을 사람들은 찬송가를 부른다. 하지만 전쟁의 상흔이 깃든 장례식은 그저 하나의 행사일 뿐이고 다니엘은 할머니 일레곤다가 자신의 죽음을 기뻐하듯 노래하는 환영을 본다. 새로운 세상을 만들어가는 안토니아. 어머니의 농장을 물려받은 안토니아는 마을 정착하여 새로운 삶을 시작한다.

A police officer investigates the case of a man shot dead in a room locked from the inside. A suicide? Then where's the gun?

In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

She's a lawyer with a social conscience. He's a calculating industrialist who keeps many deals hidden from her. But when she discovers that her husband is involved in illegal arms traffic and is also having an affair with one of her colleagues, a direct confrontation ensues.

Placide's dad tells him on his deathbed he'll haunt Placide if he doesn't find a wife soon. Placide cautiously agrees, but he only wants to settle for a very beautiful woman. That might be easier said than done, since he is a vagabond. When he accidentally enters a photo shoot, Placide meets Sarah. He falls in love, but she is way out of his reach.

The Heylen family's annual get-together to commemorate their mother derails completely.

The family patriarch Van Paemel is a farmer on baron de Wilde's estate. His mild-mannered son Désire is accidentally shot during a hunting party on the estate and remains an invalid. Eduard, the eldest son, is a member of the socialist workers' movement and involved in strike actions in the city. Against her father's wishes, his daughter Cordule starts an affair with the poacher Masco. His youngest daughter, Romanie, is forced to work as a domestic servant at the castle, where she is seduced by Maurice, the baron's son and heir, and becomes pregnant. When the youngest son Kamiel also has to leave the farm because he is drafted into the army, the lack of workers on Van Paemel's farm becomes critical. As a result, the family is evicted from their home because they cannot pay the rent. Three of the children emigrate to the USA, one becomes a nun and one dies, until only the farmer and his wife remain.

A tale centered on the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 where the Flemish rank and file won a major victory over the glorious French knights.

When Anna, a twenty-eight-year-old photographer, is put in charge of a report on the restoration works at The Ostend Museum of Modern Art, she discovers by chance five paintings signed Constant Permeke, whose power and mystery move and fascinate her.She decides to embark on a quest to find out about who Permeke actually was, the places where he lived, how he worked, what experiences he went through.

He's the "Rocky" of the 15th century-defender of the poor, enemy of evil, champion of justice. He's fearless and the strongest man in the land. He's ready and willing to take on all wrong doers-rich and poor. Accompanied by a lovable, meek little friend, his quest takes him on an unforgettable journey. Swamp monsters, knights in armor, duels, royal pageantry, and damsels in distress all abound in this story of timeless values. In the spirit of "Robin Hood," it's a robust, romantic tale: a feast for the eyes and a joy for the heart.

어느 대도시의 덥고 폭풍우 치는 여름 밤, 새벽이 올 때까지의 시간에 남자들과 여자들, 그리고 아이들의 욕망과 감정이 보여진다.

Antwerp. Someone is making a feature film. After shooting the scenes on location, the filmmaker wanders to the railway station. He's having difficulties with his material, it's a commissioned film. The story is giving him trouble too. But he cannot abandon the project. He now wants to introduce a male character so that he can explain his problems.

A forty-year-old man loses his work and is unemployed. There is a continual coming and going between uncomfortable in his own skin unemployed person, his mistress - a middle-class - and an exuberant and fragile girl.

At the deathbed of his used-to-be militant mother an older man looks back at his childhood, when he was in love with his sensual aunt Coleta.

When his father dies a young man has the choice to continue the farmwork of his old man who suffered because of the hard labour and all the regulations.

Political pamphlet in which the theories of Marxist Ernest Mandel are contrasted with the soothing parlance of political leader Paul van den Boeynants. Furthermore, the flow of 'left dogmatism' is alternated with cinematic and musical anecdotes.

Psychodrama. Black and white images of a mining area under the influence of a highly orthodox Catholicism in the 1930s are interspersed with color images of a protest action to save a small church.

In the Belgian hamlet of Verbrande Brug, former lovers Monique and Louis reconnect at a carnival, stirring up drama with their current partners.

In this film version of the Dutch-language classic ('heimat'-)novel by Flemish author Felix Timmermans, the title character is a city-boy from Lier who after recovering from a life-threatening disease changes his life completely and his name to the self-invented Pallieter. He moves in with Charlote, a naive, caring relative in the country, where he starts frolicking, no longer caring for image, career or possessions, but concentrates on enjoying life -such as a draftee relative's Brueghelian wedding- and finds love with Marieke. A dark story-line however is when projected work on the river in the name of economical progress threatens the rural landscape they have fallen in love with...

Tomasz , a young Polish refugee wanders through Antwerp, looking for the woman who helped him to get his mother through the Iron Curtain. During his search he meets alcoholics, vagrants and other outcasts of the society.

In 1833, when the fledgling Belgian kingdom still fears a Dutch invasion, recruits were selected annually from an age cohort by a draw of lots in each locality. In this grim, then contemporary drama by the 'father of Flemish literature', Hendrik Conscience, Jan Braems, a poor and naive farmers-boy, accepts the not uncommon offer by a rich family to sell his lucky ticket (out) to their son for a hefty sum compared to the miserable labor wages at the time. Army life is even harsher then a farmhand's, especially for a Dutch-speaking an-alphabet who simply can't understand his francophone superiors, and Jan's nature is not complacent enough for military discipline even by todays standards, so he soon gets into all kinds of trouble, including gambling his capital away and a venereal disease. When his girlfriend back home goes looking for him, her life is doomed as well.

After World War I, widower Renier has returned to his estate Horlebecq. His sole diversion is his correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, who he met during the war. Even though his family is pressuring him into marrying his sister-in-law Emily, Renier stays obsessed with Rolande and even visits her in Paris. She manages to persuade him to invest large sums of money into the "Academie de Beauté" in Paris. His reckless investments and breaking off his engagement with Emily leads to unbearable tensions at Horlebecq...

The story of a small and conservative West-Flemish village opposing the construction of a bridge over the Scheldt.

The wife of a local dictator gets a miscarriage during a failed assault by rebels. The dictators' brother suggesst to present the newly born baby of one a the dead rebels as his posterity.

Wilfried Wils is an auxiliary policeman in Antwerp at the start of the Second World War. The city is in the grip of violence and distrust. Wilfried does what he can for himself, avoiding paths that are too slippery. He receives attention and material support from a man who has sided with the German occupier, Meanbeard, but he also enjoys the confidence of his anti-Nazi colleague Lode, brother to Wilfried’s love Yvette. Wilfried struggles to survive as the persecution of the Jews proceeds unabated.