Sarah Vanagt Wishful Filming

18:30 (doors)
19:00 short film - Dad’s Stick by John Smith
19:05 film
19:45 talk
20:15 drinks @ foyer
21:30 (end)

A pedestrian – the filmmaker equipped with a tiny pocket camera – wanders through Brussels and encounters Polish, Iranian, Brazilian, Belgian, and Moroccan workers. They slip small pieces of paper into the columns, the walls, and the floors of construction sites: secret wishes intended for future generations. As she roams the city on a playful but also politically charged journey, filming the messages hidden behind the bricks, beneath the cobblestones, on the traffic poles and at the bases of statues, the wanderer wonders: “You may be walking on a builder’s wish.”

This En ville ! Film Festival screening takes place within the framework of the Compétition Échappées for short and medium-length films that defy classification and dare to take the road less travelled.

about

Sarah Vanagt (1976) makes documentaries, video installations and photos, in which she combines her interest for history with her interest for (the origins of) cinema. Vanagt's film The Porters (2022) premiered at IDFA, Amsterdam (Special Mention / international short film competition). Her latest film Wishful Filming (2025) premiered at Doclisboa and won the Healthy Workspaces Film Award. Vanagt also made an artwork for a metro station in Brussels, which will soon be inaugurated.

En ville !
Since its inception in 2019, the has explored questions surrounding territory, whether cinematic, tangible or imaginary. The 2026 edition runs from January 26th until February 1st.
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Dad's Stick - John Smith
Dad's Stick features three well-used objects that were shown to the artist by his father shortly before he died. Two of these were so steeped in history that their original forms and functions were almost completely obscured. The third object seemed to be instantly recognizable, but it turned out to be something else entirely. Focussing on there ambiguous artifacts and events relating to their history. Dad's Stick creates a dialogue between abstraction and literal meaning. Looking back over half a century, the work explores the contradictions of memory to create an oblique portrait of 'a perfectionist with a steady hand'.