Gust Van den Berghe Director of ’Little Baby Jesus of Flandr’

It’s because his friend Felix van Groeningen - one of last year’s revelations in Cannes - handed the DVD to the artistic director of the Director’s Fortnight that Gust Van den Berghe is sitting here today. He’s certainly enjoying the Cannes playground, seeming able to live in the moment without losing his balance. During our encounter he let out his flow of thoughts on multiple subjects: art, faith, breakdancing, his mother, how to capture time, and the experience of directing actors with Down’s syndrome.

Watching his first feature and graduation project Little Baby Jesus of Flandr, I witnessed an emotionally loaded moment. The film could leave you cold, with its beautiful grainy black and white cinemascope and sleepy rhythm. But when the standing ovation started to get long, and the cast broke out in tears of joy, I knew I couldn’t wait for this baby to grow and become a man.

When I ask if his mother was at the screening he affirms, drawing two vertical lines under his eyes. We exchange some thoughts on how it’s possible to thank one’s parents for the faith and trust they put in us, and he tells me that the film was a first attempt. It wasn’t an easy process though: “The school hated the idea. But the more they said that the more I knew I was onto something", says the Belgian director.

Van den Berghe arrived in cinema through a logical and yet abstract path. Starting to express himself by breakdancing, "because it feels like hanging between heaven and earth", he then experimented in DJ-ing and got some serious theatre experience, finally following the intuition of his mother to apply to film school. Blessed with a natural artistic vein, he has something to say in many different ways – or just one all of his own.

Why choose three main actors who “suffer" from Down’s syndrome? The answer is neither simple provocation nor a freak show: "The most difficult thing in filmmaking is the capturing of time", states the filmmaker. So the protagonists, Jelle, Paul and Peter, aren’t just playing a role. In fact they are probably rather, and this may sound paradoxical, being and acting at the same time. "They didn’t know there was a script and they still don’t know the title of the film… I’m jealous of this", admits Van den Berghe with pure sincerity.

Imagine a set on which nobody has much previous experience, and the actors are handicapped. This wild nightmare of the average American producer is what the director and his cast will certainly remember as a life lesson for many years to come. "Gust is my best buddy", his actors told me in harmony just before. "They were often sad, one of them was missing his mom or had a nightmare. We had to talk about it before we could shoot", explains the cineaste, who is only 24 but sounds like he’s talking about his own son. "They can teach us so much", he adds. Beginning to understand, I nod in silence.

This upcoming director’s work has a clear humanistic aspect, but also a distinct visual style. Frame by frame, the film installs a sort of aesthetical cocoon, seasoned with an erratic symbolism that the person sat next to you in the cinema surely won’t interpret the way you did.

Little Baby Jesus of Flandr tackles faith. This wind we feel but do not see blows somewhere between piety and spirituality; in any case it is the fundamental basis of life. His cinematography illustrates just that, from the opening panning shot. In Apocalypse Now, the peaceful tropical jungle literally exploded in napalm horror. In this film, the trees are too singular and unique to see them as a coherent forest, and each one of them is scraping the sky, as if we should call nature “Gaia" more often.

The same goes with the actors. Through the rhythm they set, and the caricatures they embody, we take the time to understand and contemplate the world at their pace. Quite a contrast to the hectic masses, noise and flashing lights I fought against on my way to the Belgian terrace here in Cannes. "You can start today if you want to", says the filmmaker out of the blue. If you’re reading this, Gust, let’s have a beer soon.

By Maximilien Van Aertryck

Interview of Gust Van den Berghe, director of "Little Baby Jesus of Flandr" from NISI MASA on Vimeo.

CHECK OUT ALSO THE VIDEO OF OUR ENCOUNTER WITH THE CAST OF LITTLE BABY JESUS OF FLANDR