Antwerp Central

Peter Krüger’s Films can be seen as fiction constructed from documentary or documentaries shot in the language of fiction. I’ve always been on the border between these genres,’ he says. ‘And I’ve discovered that it is a very interesting place to be as a filmmaker.

A cinephile from a young age, he postponed going to film school in favour of studying philosophy. 'I thought: I need content,' he recalls. After graduating he skipped fi lm school once more, setting up the production company Inti Films with fellow would-be director Peter Brosens. Although Krüger's inspiration up to that point had come from fiction, his first projects were documentaries. 'I had the feeling that with documentary I could immediately start making films myself.' This made him to look at the possibilities offered by factual filmmaking.

Following on the heels of a wave of Flemish films at the Montreal World Film Festival this year, the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum presents RealTime Unreal (31 Aug - 2 Oct), an experimental media project by Flemish artists Thomas Soetens and Kora Van den Bulcke.

In 2001 Soetens and Van den Bulcke founded the international collective Workspace Unlimited. Since then the collective has come to the forefront of media art, creating some of today's most compelling virtual worlds and interactive installations. Now Montreal has invited them for a projection series on their work, titled simply Workspace Unlimited. The selected installation by Soetens and Van den Bulcke's is their new RealTime Unreal.

Originally Soetens and Van den Bulcke's RealTime Unreal was commissioned by NYC's Museum of the Moving Image. In a piece on the NY museum's opening, New York Times critic Edward Rothstein admitted 'the conception is so strong, I was immersed in it.'

Peter Krüger’s award-winning creative documentary Antwerp Central has been selected for the Architecture & Design Film Festival in Chicago (5-9 May).

Earlier this year, Antwerp Central won the Grand Prix at the 29th edition of the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA, 17-27 March), where it was described as ‘a historical, mildly ironic and contemplative look at the Central Station in Antwerp’. In Antwerp Central, the director takes the viewer on a journey through the physical and mental space of Antwerp’s railway cathedral, from its construction to the present day. For his documentary, screenwriter/director Peter Krüger drew inspiration from the book Austerlitz by WG Sebald.

May promises to be a busy month for Flemish docs and shorts. Both the Docville International Documentary Festival in Leuven (29 April-7 May) and the Brussels Short Film Festival (28 April-8 May) are scheduling a strong selection of Flemish titles. With attention for Flemish productions on the rise internationally, indigenous fests are following course.

The seventh edition of documentary fest Docville is showcasing an ambitious programme, with yet to be released films, previews and one-off screenings. Among the 70 selected docs are a number of Flemish highlights such as Grande Hotel by Lotte Stoops and Waidmannsheil by Klaas Boelen, which were both selected for Hot Docs this year, as well as Peter Krüger’s creative documentary, Antwerp Central, which recently won the Grand Prix at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA).

Peter Krüger’s creative documentary Antwerp Central Station has won the Grand Prize at this year’s 29th International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal (17-27 March). The film, which the fest describes as ‘a historical, mildly ironic and contemplative look at the Central Station in Antwerp’, received its world premiere in Montreal.

In Antwerp Central, the director takes the viewer on a journey through the physical and mental space of Antwerp’s railway cathedral, from its construction to the present day. Drawing inspiration from the book Austerlitz by WG Sebald, screenwriter/director Peter Krüger approaches Antwerp Central Railway Station as a magical realist location, where present and past, history and daily life, fiction and reality are in constant flux.