Movie
Fantasmagoria Screening
Wed 22 Oct 2025Public space, past & present, architecture & politics
Together with Viktor Van Hoof, Filmmaker and CINEMATEK programmer Merlijn Beullens invites you to the premiere of their first short documentary film Fantasmagoria.
In dialogue with Brussels, the film raises questions about urban identity, Europe’s role in national building projects, and the ways history is represented and rewritten in public space.
In dialogue with Brussels, the film raises questions about urban identity, Europe’s role in national building projects, and the ways history is represented and rewritten in public space.
The film explores how political architecture takes shape and generates meaning in public space, through images from Skopje and Brussels. Rooted in a personal journey to Skopje, Fantasmagoria examines the tensions around the controversial project Skopje 2014, which reshaped the cityscape with neoclassical façades and monumental statues. How do such interventions function as propaganda? And how are they perceived by residents, artists, and architects?
The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and a workshop on political architecture, in collaboration with Meow collective, whose work around urban space, power structures, and public participation offers a valuable complement to the themes of the film.
The screening is free, for the workshop, we ask a contribution. Registration link for the workshop will be online soon.
The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and a workshop on political architecture, in collaboration with Meow collective, whose work around urban space, power structures, and public participation offers a valuable complement to the themes of the film.
The screening is free, for the workshop, we ask a contribution. Registration link for the workshop will be online soon.
Merlijn Beullens
Merlijn Beullens (born 1998) obtained a master's degree in philosophy from Ghent University and studied audiovisual arts at LUCA School of Arts. From 2025, she will participate in the European and interdisciplinary master's programme Film Memory. Since 2023, she has been responsible for Dutch-language youth education at CINEMATEK, where she develops educational film projects for young audiences. In her artistic practice, she focuses on themes such as historical awareness, identity and community. She has written for Fantômas, Sabzian and DeWereldMorgen, among others.
Viktor Van Hoof
Viktor Van Hoof (born 1996) obtained a master's degree in Audiovisual Arts at KASK Ghent. He lives and works in Brussels. As a photographer and filmmaker, his work has been published on various platforms and in magazines such as VICE, Knack Weekend, SPBH, New Dawn, Plan B, BLVRD and Hart Boven Hard. In 2018, he received the Laureaat Fotoforum Brasschaat Talent Award.
About the workshop: Meow collective
Meow collective was founded by Maarten Weyns and Omar Kashmiry. They use storytelling and a playful attitude as collaborative tools to create lively and inviting spaces. Meow shapes renovation projects, public spaces, and neighbourhood transformations with the communities that inhabit them. They weave the stories of those who care into shared reflections of lived experience and imagination.
The workshop will explore the deep connections between architectural styles, national identities, and political ideologies through the lenses of both architecture and fashion
The workshop will explore the deep connections between architectural styles, national identities, and political ideologies through the lenses of both architecture and fashion
