Brussels Film and Theater Productions Turn Focus to World War II
“The times are so grim and brutal that we reach for fiction,” director Lukas Dhont recently told The Time, capturing a broader creative shift taking place across the Belgian capital. This season, Brussels cultural institutions and filmmakers are increasingly returning to the Second World War and its shadows, staging productions that examine resistance, occupation, and historical trauma without the anchor of a specific anniversary.
The renewed artistic interest spans multiple disciplines across the city. This autumn, Cinematek is spotlighting films screened in Belgium under German military occupation, while the KVS hosted a Verzetscafé on May 8, launching an initiative by the non-profit group Helden van het verzet that continues across various Brussels venues in October. Later that month, the Flemish Radio Choir and I Solisti will perform Francis Poulenc’s clandestine wartime cantata, Human figure, at Flagey.
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Film and television projects represent the most visible wave of this historical engagement. In November, director Michaël R. Roskam releases The Fake Evening, centering on a high-stakes act of wartime resistance from 1943: the distribution of a counterfeit edition of The evening, which mimicked the newspaper controlled by the occupier to mock the enemy. Roskam, best known for Round scoop and The Faithful, applies his signature tension to occupied Belgium. A similar tonal shift marks the next project from Oscar-nominated director Lukas Dhont. With Coward, the filmmaker behind Girl and Close leaves contemporary settings behind for the First World War trenches, featuring Brussels actors Liam Jacqmin and Jef Jacobs.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Brussels’ Wartime Productions
What is Le Faux Soir about?
Set for release in November, Michaël R. Roskam’s feature details the 1943 resistance operation where underground fighters distributed a counterfeit edition of the occupied newspaper The evening to mock the enemy.
Where can audiences experience these historical productions?
Venues across Brussels are hosting these works this autumn, including Cinematek’s wartime film retrospective, events by Helden van het verzet, and a performance of Francis Poulenc’s clandestine cantata at Flagey.