Here

Encounters 2023

Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels, is on the verge of moving back home. He cooks up a big pot of soup with leftovers in his fridge as a goodbye gift for friends and family. As he is about to leave, he meets a young Belgian-Chinese woman who is working in a little restaurant while researching her doctorate on mosses. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
A hunter-gatherer of beauty in urban landscapes, Bas Devos knows how to tell stories through images. Berlinale audiences beheld this talent in his films Violet (Generation, 2014) and Hellhole (Panorama, 2019). In Here, the Belgian filmmaker’s ability to register the invisible and the untold performs many a small miracle. Unfolding in beautiful tableaux in 4:3 format, his work features characters in whose presence we want to feel the here and now, just as they do. Observing his central duo, played by the radiant Stefan Gota and Liyo Gong, as they discover each other, Devos’ gaze is as moving as it is delicate. And what more solid way for a bond to grow between two people than with their feet firmly rooted in Mother Nature’s soft carpeting? It is more fragile than cement, but it is our true terrain.

by Bas Devos
with Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong Belgium 2023 French 82’ Colour

With

Stefan Gota (Stefan)
Liyo Gong (Shuxiu)

Crew

Director	Bas Devos
Screenplay	Bas Devos
Cinematography	Grimm Vandekerckhove
Editing	Dieter Diependaele
Music	Brecht Ameel
Sound Design	Boris Debackere
Sound	Yanna Soentjens
Production Design	Spela Tusar
Costumes	Manon Blom
Assistant Director	Sofie Tusschans
Production Manager	Rosalin Brinks
Producer	Marc Goyens
Executive Producer	Marc Goyens

World sales

Rediance

http://www.rediancefilms.com http://www.rediancefilms.com

Produced by

Quetzalcoatl

Photos

Bas Devos

Born in Zoersel, Belgium in 1983. After making four short films, he completed his debut feature film, Violet, in 2013. The film screened in Generation where it won the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury.

Filmography

2005 Taurus; short film · Taurus; short film 2006 Pillar; short film · Pillar; short film 2008 The Close; short film · The Close; short film 2009 We Know; short film · We Know; short film 2013 Violet 2014 Violet; Generation 2019 Hellhole · Ghost Tropic 2023 Here

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023