A Sea Change takes its audience to the IBIS maritime boarding school in Oostende. In the buildings that looks out towards the sea, boys from six to sixteen sleep, eat and play.
They learn how to read the sea, sail with a fishing boat and help haul in the catch. While the fishermen are at work, they observe the by-catch and stare across the deck. In the classrooms, the impetuous sea is captured in maps. On sea maps, there are no storms and there is no time.
The sea might seem timeless, but much is changing. The coast is permeated with nostalgia, as if the sea had turned its face to the past. Sooner or later the fishing fleet will disappear, together with many endangered species of fish. The fish auction hall of Oostende is in decay, the harbour coated in rust. Nonetheless, a new colour is appearing from underneath the peeling paint.
2016, 60'
NL spoken
EN, FR subtitles
Concept + camera: Nina de Vroome
Production: Lotte Van Craeynest - a SIEBER production
Sound recording: Ruben Desiere, Hannes Verhoustraete, Liesbeth Beeckman, Mathijs Poppe, Chloe Delanghe
Editing: Nina de Vroome, Sébastien Demeffe
Sound editing: Sabrina Calmels
Sound post-production: Rémi Gerard
music: De Beren Gieren
With the support of: VAF, Beursschouwburg, Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen
In coproduction with: Atelier Graphoui
Nina de Vroome is part of the same generation of documentary filmmakers as Ruben Desiere, Hannes Verhoustraete, Gerard-Jan Claes and Olivia Rochette. We first saw her work at the Beursschouwburg in 2012, during the Bâtard Festival. This season, she presents her first full-length documentary.
Nina de Vroome (°1989) is a documentary filmmaker. She graduated in 2013 from the KASK School of Arts in Ghent, with her film, Golven (Waves), a journey through the silence of a room and the hubbub of the city. She lives in Brussels, creates collages and video works, and is associated with Sabzian, an online platform for film culture.
