Frank Van Passel

A decade separates Villa des Roses and Madonna’s Pig, Frank Van Passel’s latest film. But he says it doesn’t feel like he’s been away. ‘I didn’t stop directing over the past 10 years, but it’s true that I stopped making feature films,’ he says. Instead he made prize-winning television drama, shot commercials and started the production company now known as Caviar. ‘That took a lot of time, but now Caviar has a life of its own I can go back to where my heart is.’

Text: Ian Mundell; Portrait: Bart Dewaele

After Villa des Roses Van Passel decided he should take some time out to think before making another feature. ‘In a certain sense I was happy with the film, but I can’t deny that it wasn’t the biggest success,’ he says. ‘Its ambitions were greater than its final achievements, and that’s not good. As a filmmaker, that’s the moment to start asking questions about where it went wrong.’ Madonna’s Pig is the result of that reflection. ‘I’ve gone back to a local story, a Flemish speaking story, to things that are closer to me,’ he explains. ‘And I’m more in control, not only of the content of the film but also of the production surrounding it.’

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