Week 41/2023

This week’s film selection features two expeditions by truck and one work, made with undocumented migrants, that rejects any finality. 

First up, we follow outlaws trucking leaky cases of nitroglycerin 218 miles through the Colombian jungle in Sorcerer (1977) by the late William Friedkin. 

Our second film of the week covers 116.500 miles in 112 days. Terres brûlées (1934) by the Belgian filmmaker Charles Dekeukeleire charts the course of the first successful attempt to travel from Brussels to the Congo by lorry. Commissioned by the Belgian government to map the roads between Belgium and its colonies, this expedition was mounted in 1934 by Captain Brondeel who invited Dekeukeleire to document the expedition on film.

 “Joy means not being aware that you are going from point A to point B.” This motto comes from Elie Maissin who co-directed the third film of this week together with Mieriën Coppens. Premiering as part of the Contour Biennale, Malgré tout (2023) illuminates the harrowing, compelling actuality of undocumented migrants. It’s a collection of short films that stand alone but are also part of a growing series made in collaboration with the Brussels activist collective La Voix Des Sans Papiers. Each of these films exists despite everything, malgré tout.