QUESTION#1: What about your film excites you the most?:

That we got it finished! Our film look a long time to complete (around 5 years), with a lot of ups and downs so finally getting to see the finished project now playing at festivals is something that is both a relief and gratifying. A lot of films who struggle to get finished in post-production like ours don't get that, so it's something I'll always be grateful for.

QUESTION#2: What is it about your current movie that will influence your next film?:
I think I have a certain style, a certain universe where all my films somehow fit into even though they're diFerent, an attention to detail and an approach to filmmaking where every department matters creatively to the storytelling that I hope to carry with me to any future project that comes on my path.

QUESTION#3: When you’re shooting a film, do you think of time as something you capture or something you construct?:
Definitely something I construct. The unique thing about the audio-visual arts is that time becomes something subjective, the films where the story time and the actual runtime are the same are quite rare (it bit more common now with the popularity of one- take films), but the ability to bend chronology to fit our storytelling is one of the things that always drew me to filmmaking as an art form. We make or remake our films a couple of times, in the writing, the shooting and the edit and that last one being the final step makes the time element so importantly subjective.

QUESTION#4: What’s a limitation you wish you had on your next shoot that would force you into making interesting creative decisions?:

I'm not a big lover of limitations as I aim to have less of them the next shoot than I did the current adventure, but one I would welcome is the limitation of shooting in a particular country or city and working with the locations that that place brings. This has been the case with most of my work and I've always been able to find settings that elevate the story, so that challenge is definitely one I welcome. One I don't welcome is the limitation of shooting time, which I hope can finally improve on, as it's always been degressive for various reason with each film I've done.

QUESTION#5: If a film shoot is like a living organism, which department do you think functions as its nervous system?:
If you look at the nervous system as controlling all bodily functions, I would say the directing department would be a good fit tied with production. The brain being perhaps a more apt analogy for said director or the beating heart perhaps if the actors wouldn't be that. An interesting question, but not an easy one to answer but if there's one person whose nerves are tested perhaps the most during the shoot, the director would be a good candidate.

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5Q's w/: Tom Van Avermaet "Hearts of Stone" Director, Writer