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Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival 2025
Studio Skoop/De Filmplaneet vzw richtte in 1994 het VIEWPOINT DOCUMENTAIR FILMFESTIVAL op, uit een passie voor de documentaire film en om haar publiek de kans te geven om deze spraakmakende films in de cinema te kunnen beleven. VIEWPOINT werd 9 jaar op rij een succes en bouwde internationaal een uitstekende reputatie op, dankzij een sterke, kwalitatieve en onafhankelijke filmselectie. In 2003 kwam er (tijdelijk) een einde aan het Viewpoint-verhaal.
Geïnspireerd door dit originele initiatief werd het festival in 2018 geherlanceerd. VIEWPOINT wil opnieuw een platform geven aan mensen met een alternatieve kijk op de wereld. Hierbij krijgen zowel beginnende als ervaren documentairemakers wereldwijd een plaats. Het is de bedoeling om opnieuw een warme, open sfeer te creëren waarbinnen filmmakers, fans, critici en producers samen films kunnen bekijken van aankomende talenten, nieuwe stijlen en technieken kunnen ontdekken en bekronen.
Op het programma staan korte en lange documentaires uit alle hoeken van de wereld. Tickets zijn hieronder en aan de kassa van Studio Skoop verkrijgbaar. Ze kosten slechts 6 euro per vertoning, inclusief een gratis drankje in het Skoop Café, want deze films kunnen niet zonder nabespreking.
Alle info over Viewpoint vindt u op www.viewpointdocfest.com
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PROGRAMMA VIEWPOINT 2025 (14/04-20/04):
OPENING NIGHT
Op maandag 14/04 om 20u00
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São João (United Kingdom) by Will Bentley
A fisherman looks forward to celebrating his 88th birthday on the Festa de São João. Shot on Super 8 in Foz do Douro, the film is a miniature portrait about the gentle wisdom of living.
Running time: 00:01:05
The Other Side of Despair (Switzerland) by Varsy Buchmann
“The Other Side of Despair” is a moving portrait of a young Armenian artist, Art Petrosyan, who sets fire to his own paintings. Shot during a time of profound loss and upheaval in the aftermath of the forced deportation of 110,000 people from Artsakh, it provides a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the relationship between art, identity, and the struggle for survival.
Running time: 00:08:30
Adult Child (Norway) by Hugo Francker
With humor and vulnerability, the director reaches out to their distant father as they experiment with a more masculine gender identity. A unique and personal film about growing up and longing for closeness. Dressing up in suits and acting out traditional masculine activities, reveals the potential of rebuilding a lost connection.
Running time: 00:24:35
The Hold (United Kingdom) by JD Donnelly
A real-time journey into the mind and story of champion free-diver Alice Hickson as she performs her record breath hold.
Running time: 00:09:57
Still, life (United Kingdom) by Priya Woods
Grief has many unsuspecting customers. A stoic Scottish father and his daughter sit down for a pint, 18 summers after a life altering diagnosis which changed everything and nothing at all. Through the use of interview and archive, the film contrasts between a past life of warm chaos and the cold, still, reality of the present. This short is the story behind the “local” in the pub, exploring the crippling effects of love and loss, of which we all hold within.
Running time: 00:07:29
Pappas Poppy (Norway) by Johanne Wilbrink
*** Nordic/Docs, New Voices, Norway
Dolls, cunts and daddy issues – a personal portrait of being a woman.
Running time: 00:07:00
Freshman (Poland) by Michał Edelman, Tomasz Pawlik
*** Millenium Docs Against Gravity
Freshman” is a two-year observation of fifteen-year-old Jędrek. Cut off from his family and loved ones, the boy gets locked up in a juvenile prison. Now he has to adapt to a new, harsh environment. At first, he is scared and lonely, but later, he meets a friend - Wojtek. The juvy slowly becomes their new home.
Running time: 00:27:00
SATURN
Op dinsdag 15/04 om 20u00
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Saturn (Spain) by Daniel Tornero
In 2018 my grandfather was arrested for child abuse and attempted kidnapping. Now, he has been sentenced to twelve years and he’s waiting to enter prison. I meet him again after several years and I confront his looks, his answers and my own feelings. Meanwhile, my family gathers at the country house and deals with the emotional consequences of growing up under this father figure. It is there where the abuse of minors is the subject of conversation, and where my own father realizes that the relationship he has had with us is not that different from the one he had with my grandfather.
Running time: 01:36:00
MARCHING IN THE DARK
Op woensdag 16/04 om 20u00
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Marching in the Dark (Belgium) by Kinshuk Surjan
Intent on providing a better life for herself and her children after her farmer-husband’s suicide, Sanjivani struggles against her culture’s traditional abandonment of widows, until she joins a discussion group with other farmer-suicide widows. Empowered by community, shared stories of resilience, and unexpected solidarity, Sanjivani forges a path forward.
IT’S ONLY/NOT ONLY A BODY…
Op donderdag 17/04 om 20u00
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Methuselah (United States) by Nathan Sellers
*** FilmQuest, Boston Underground Film Festival, New Hampshire Film Festival
Rooted in a childhood memory, ‘Methuselah’ examines the exploitation of trees and their haunting dual role, as silent witnesses and unwitting participants, in humanity’s long history of violence.
Running time: 00:04:11
It’s only/not only a body… or a short film about freedom (Poland) by Michał Hytroś
*** 63rd Kraków Film Festival, 31st EnergaCAMERIMAGE, 35th Trieste Film Festival
Love thyself. This is the life credo of Zosia - a photographer, traveller and free spirit. Going round the world in her camper, she uses photography to make other women comfortable with nakedness and teaches them to love their own bodies. In front of her lens stood women who experienced eating disorders and did not accept their looks. Zosia, who has no place of her own on Earth, has been on the road since she left school at the age of 18. Freedom is a priority for her but loneliness and longing for love may sometimes jeopardise her travelling plans.
Running time: 01:22:16
ZAAD
Op vrijdag 18/04 om 20u00
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Compromis (Belgium) by Liza De Maeyer
What sensitivity arises when the transaction between sex worker and client no longer revolves around sex, but around intimacy, warmth and love? When as a professional you have to give emotional intimacy instead of pure physicality, when as a customer you long for affection and warmth so much that you give money for it?
Running time: 00:10:49
Zaad (Belgium) by Dries Meddens
The documentary ZAAD is the autobiographical story of filmmaker Dries Meddens. Searching for identity and fearing genetic heredity, he digs into his family history. After his mother passed away, Dries discovers his father’s bipolarity. The care this mental illness imposes in his young adult life leaves no place for mourning over his mother’s death. Countering the way society and psychiatry crudely and ruthlessly treat his father absorbs all his attention. Eventually – while in a closed section of a mental hospital – his father dies of a heart attack. Emptying his parent’s home, Dries discovers, among an overload of left behind projects of his father, an old letter from his grandfather. The man appears to have led a very busy and productive life. He was the founder of an internationally renowned seed breeding company (Nunhems Zaden, now owned by BASF) and still had time to paint, write diaries and be the father of 11 children. At first Dries is happy about his discoveries and feels a strong link to his grandfather. But the more he digs into the past, the less he can avoid a growing fear that his father’s psychiatric illness might be hereditary, from grandfather to father to son. And what then germinates in Dries’ children? Browsing through film and photo archives, with dramatic and sometimes hilarious findings from three generations of family history, Dries looks for answers, but his search only leads to more questions. Ultimately, Dries decides to go and see a psychiatrist. These visits, combined with the viewing of his archival material help Dries look at bipolarity with new eyes. He realizes that the most powerful treatment is already within his reach.
Running time: 01:16:00
BELGIAN DOUCMENTARY NOW
Op zaterdag 19/04 om 20u00
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Object 817 (Belgium) by Olga Lucovnicova
*** Sundance Film festival
Somewhere deep in the Ural, abandoned buildings are holding more than just memories of the past. They also bear witness to a secret that has plagued the community since the Stalin era. Local people speak about strange events that occurred decades ago, leading to the gradual extinction of their once-bustling community. We discover a group of people on home footage taken at the local police station in the ‘90. They examine an unusual creature, believed to be of extraterrestrial origin. Its appearance inspires fear and fascination, and soon it reaches a cult status. “The Kysthym Alien” has its own monument, poems and songs… But the strange events surrounding the creature’s discovery remain shrouded in secrecy, and the truth continues to be buried. The film takes us on a journey of discovery aiming to unravel the dark truth that has been haunting this community for so long.
Running time: 00:21:00
Afrodite (Belgium) by Karolina Grondhal, Mirna Everhard, Piller Bebea, Ahsan Mohammod, Anantha Krishnan
Aphrodite is not only a prominent figure in Greek mythology but also the name of a love motel located in Viana de Castelo, a beach town in Portugal. As you can see, it creates a thematic connection between the mythical realm of love and the tangible experiences within the motel. This documentary film captures a collective exploration by a group of filmmakers, delving into the ambiance, privacy, choices, architecture, and the essence of love within this unique establishment. The shots and edits were made through consensus among the filmmakers. In my role as a cinematographer, I relished the opportunity to navigate the intimate and restricted corridors of the Aphrodite motel. This project, born out of a film school exercise with a group of classmates, unfolds as an attempt to unravel the intricacies of love in a distinctive setting.
Running time: 00:08:00
Lenie (Belgium) by Floor Smessaert
How do you dance when your body - pre-eminently the most important thing you need for it - cannot always be trusted? This short documentary explores the role of dance in the life of Lenie, an 18-year-old Brussels girl with disabilities. Observational footage during her classes at Platform K, a dance company for dancers with disabilities, is interspersed in this documentary with cell phone footage of Lenie in which she dances in her room, something she often films for herself. The film has no ambition to give the viewer an explanation or narrative. However, it does allow them to read and connect the images for themselves and interpret the blank lines between them. Or perhaps better yet: to leave them as they are.
Running time: 00:11:22
Nooit rust (Belgium) by Céline Schauvliege
A documentary about the system in which homeless people end up. Through the eyes of Mike & Jill, we experience the personal impact of thresholds and rules that are installed by a policy. Welcome to bureaucratic, inhuman absurdistan in the Kempen…
Running time: 00:24:46
Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova
*** Young Filmmakers Festival Brussels
In a world of loneliness, Tokyo Toy Boy searches for a reason to keep going. Through an intimate portrait, the documentary explores the battle between self-destruction and a better day tomorrow. Kazuho, a 24-year-old former host boy in the shady neighborhoods of Tokyo, bears the scars of a lost generation. Tokyo Toy Boy follows Kazuho’s inner struggle. Between the urge for death and the hope for tomorrow, he quietly fights on and shows the struggles of young adults worldwide.
Running time: 00:22:37
BECOMING MADONNA
Op zaterdag 19/04 om 20u00
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Becoming Madonna (United Kingdom) by Michael Odgen
Featuring never-seen-before photos, footage, and recently uncovered audio tapes of young Madonna, this feature length documentary traces her rise from insecure outsider in Michigan to becoming the most powerful and controversial female pop star on the planet. Interviews with family, friends and collaborators reveal the inside story of Madonna’s rise to conquer a male-dominated music industry, culminating in the astonishing publication of a book featuring over a hundred erotic photos of her under the title Sex. Immersive archive also sheds new light on the personal tragedies that fuelled Madonna’s drive, re-examining the early death of her mother and those of her close friends Martin Burgoyne and first mentor Christopher Flynn during the AIDs epidemic of the late 1980s. Through their stories, this film shows Madonna in a new light: smarter, more radical and more vulnerable than anyone at the time gave her credit for.
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