Wouter Hessels. Film als brug naar een gedeelde wereld.

If there is anyone in Brussels who connects a passion for film with real commitment, it’s Monsieur Cinema, Wouter Hessels. This true cinephile understands better than anyone how to inspire others with his love of the silver screen. Wouter is a film professor at our partners ULB, the Brussels School of Governance and RITCS/Erasmushogeschool, and thus a friend of VUB. He talked to us about film and purpose, and the power of the moving image.

“Film, the seventh art, is definitely a passion, but actually it started for me with the spoken and written word,” Wouter confesses. “So it’s definitely not an obsession like it was for François Truffaut, one of my favourite filmmakers. He wrote: la vie, c’était l’écran and Le cinéma m’a sauvé la vie. There is certainly life beyond the silver screen. I started acting on stage as a boy of five, studied literature and philosophy. Add to that a love of classical music, photography, poetry and visual arts. Film brings all this together. It’s Gesamtkunst.

Film is also the most accessible art form, to teach young people your love of art and culture. Maybe that’s my mission.

Can art save the world?

“Not really. That’s idealistic, utopian. Sometimes you do need utopias to bring about change, though. Art can change the world, not save it. I like to give some examples of how cinema can have social impact.

“Truffaut makes a film in 1959, Les 400 coups. He won the prize for best director in Cannes, made his breakthrough as a filmmaker and also helped initiate the innovative Nouvelle Vague, which to this day is one of the most impactful film movements. Truffaut was never politically engaged. He was too preoccupied with his films. In Les 400 coups, though, he does denounce the fate of Antoine Doinel, an adolescent who is locked up in a cell. The film sparked debate in France about the imprisonment of children.

“Closer to home, there was the Rosetta plan to get more young people into work through entry-level jobs. It owes its name to the Dardenne brothers’ film Rosetta.

“But the impact of film on people can also be very subtle. Jacques Tati’s comic films never called for revolution, but brought about a change in the human state of mind. The character of Mr Hulot turned a funeral into a pleasant gathering full of friendship. Through humour he changed the mood of viewers.”

The power of the open ending

“The real film only begins when you come out of the cinema. Film can do all sorts of things: provide entertainment, comfort, pure beauty, poignancy, reflection. It can also make you think about yourself, others and the world. It can broaden and deepen your world view. Cinéma de réflexion.

“The socially aware films of Ken Loach or Kore-eda Hirokazu show you extreme situations that you hopefully don’t experience yourself but which elicit empathy à la Levinas, understanding for the situation of the other.

“Cinema, like literature, has the power of a strong story. I like ambivalence, an open-endedness. It forces you to think about the sequel, the future of the characters.

“But also pure cinema à la Hitchcock, or poetic cinema like Tarkovsky, Kiarostami or Bresson, can release a lot using image and music, without too many words. A poetic response to a film can also be a seed of commitment. Film certainly inspires me to perform poetry.”

Building bridges in film city Brussels

As a Franco- and Italophile – and a huge fan of Federico Fellini – Wouter crosses the language border. He teaches film analysis at INSAS and Belgian cinema at ULB.

“Flemish youngsters know too little about our Belgian film heritage such as Storck, Delvaux or Akerman. I am still arguing for a diversification of the canon. At ULB and INSAS I also help French-speaking youngsters discover Flemish film better. Fien Troch is a strong contemporary filmmaker who dares to reinvent herself.

“We may not be a classic film country, but Belgian film has a lot to offer. And Brussels is a real film city.” As a curator, Wouter organises film screenings in a small kiosk or a museum. He is also coordinator-programmer of Cinema RITCS and active within CINEMATEK, the Royal Belgian Film Archive.

“CINEMATEK, with 80,000 film titles, has one of the richest film collections in the world. At any hour of the day, you can go see a film in Brussels. If my students don’t find my class interesting, I tell them to go to CINEMATEK. The curiosity to watch movies is the essence.

“In Brussels, everything comes together. Just as auteurs like Kazan or Cassavetes reconciled experimental cinema and Hollywood, film also builds bridges between cultures. Institutions like Bozar and Flagey embrace multilingualism in their DNA. Brussels is sometimes hard to love, but it is the place where bridges are built. It is the laboratory of Europe, and perhaps even of the world. Iranian, Japanese, Senegalese cinema, Hong Kong cinema… It’s clear that the seventh art does not stop at the borders of Europe or Hollywood.”

Back to the cinema after corona

Wouter is an advocate of the real film experience on the big screen, in the cinema. “Without popcorn, talking and slurping,” he laughs. “Although I also have to confess something, which I never thought possible before corona. I had to install a home cinema myself at home to project on the wall, 3 by 2 metres.”

Students still need something to look forward to, though. During the last week of the online film festival The World Needs You, on 25 and 27 May and 1 June, Cinema RITCS and Pilar hope to offer three fun, truly Belgian, outdoor films in Jette, Etterbeek and Anderlecht, in the presence of the creators:

25 May - VUB/EhB Jette - Brabançonne (2014) - Vincent Bal

27 May - VUB Etterbeek - King of the Belgians (2016) - Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

1 June - EhB Anderlecht - Les Barons (2009) - Nabil Ben Yadir

And what will Wouter do as soon as it’s allowed again? I guess we don’t have to draw a picture of that.

Long live film! (tribute to La Nuit américaine by François Truffaut)

Sounds track with images

always moving, even repeating

the director depicts many lives

directs people, his stars, O Hollywood

that in reality makes dreams

of everlasting life and heavenly sweetness

Spectators are moved

by characters and their grandiose desires

Such a blissful deception of infinite love

Filmmaking sounds and looks chaotic

The silver screen, on the other hand, seems harmonious

Behind the scenes, in the wings however

Actors, actresses and crew bicker

For the director to decide whether the film

in its beginning, middle and open or closed end

A night scene is shot during the day

the ending is decided beforehand with a shot

A film never, ever stands still

But rushes like a lusty train

Past the silent, troublesome pain in our soul

A film never dies, it lives on

Sounding like music to our ears

Even if we, the audience, are no longer there....

Wouter M. Hessels, Brussels

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