ASAP
HEARTBREAK

On 9 March, Julian will be screened, the feature-length debut of Belgian director Cato Kusters. The film opened the 52nd edition of Film Fest Gent and is based on the memoirs of writer, artist, and LGBTQIA+ activist Fleur Pierets.

Julian follows Fleur and Julian, two women who, after getting engaged, come up with the plan to get married in every country where same-sex marriage is legally permitted. This idea evolves into Project 22, a symbolic honeymoon that exposes the fragile boundary between personal love and political reality. After four ceremonies, their journey comes to an abrupt halt.

Through an intimate storytelling style, interwoven timelines, and a strong sensitivity to social issues, Kusters crafts a story that is both deeply personal and universal — a reflection on love, loss, and humanity in a world where LGBTQIA+ rights are increasingly under pressure.

Do you feel supported by our society? Or do you feel rejected, marginalised, or stifled? Many of us carry a broken heart due to the dehumanisation we witness daily, the deepening divides between generations and social groups, and the marginalisation of what truly matters: well-being over profit. Hyster-x invites some of its members and the public (yes, you) to share their experiences in a workshop and literary evening focusing on these pains. Can collective resistance transform grief into unifying activism? How do we find joy and love in difficult times? We will engage in conversation and search for hope in creative self-care and mutual care.

About the evening: Maatschappijn is an evening of literary performances in dialogue with the audience.  

Margot Delaet facilitates a lively conversation between the members of Hyster-x and the audience through artistic performances. Uschi Cop reads excerpts from her debut novel Dodeman, in which a fictional radical collective searches for solutions together. Ella Salvador shares a work in progress entitled De Pauw en het Water (The Peacock and the Water), about love for life. And Anna Borodikhina presents her poetry performance called Gesprek met wat zwijgt (Conversation with what is silent). In between, they talk about how their creative work came about and what the collective means to them.

The crowning glory of the regular programme is an open mic session, for which you can register at the beginning of the evening. This is an invitation to share what moves us about this theme; you and your words are very welcome!

Are you still searching for language? Earlier today, Emerald Liu guided you through a (free) workshop to explore your sensory experiences and put them into words. Registrations and info here.

When you have a broken heart, language not only serves a communicative function, but also has a healing effect. This workshop provides a link between body and mind. Using accessible writing prompts that build on each other, we will explore and articulate our sensory experiences of (social) pain. We will pause to reflect and then look at how we can use language as a bridge within ourselves and our environment. If desired, these texts can be shared in the evening programme during an open mic session.

Free, but registration a must!

17u30-19u00 at Bar Pilar
Followed by the literary evening 'Maatschappijn'. 

You are invited to participate in a screaming session where we scream & witness each other screaming together, guided by poet and artist neneh noï.

For this Heartbreak edition, you are invited to bring your rage, and furies to the space. Rage as in anger, but als something to do with force, strength, change, or something alive. rage ≠ a luxury is centred around collectively witnessing each other and ourselves in ugly (the abject) and foolish states. This work intends to create an expanded understanding of our own voice beyond harmony and the beautiful.

Built with a series of exercises informed by vocalists/performers, peer to peer knowledge exchange, the punk/metal scene sounds of growling, grunting and screaming, these sessions situate themselves on the edges of playful intervention, informal collective ‘noising’, and introduction to the rougher facets of our own voice-making. 

life is beautiful is an improvisation-based, experimental gesamtkunstwerk founded by aloisius, including an independent record label, a series of happenings, and a transdisciplinary collective of 7: Bianca Scout, NWAKKE, abi asisa, Jasper Maurice, THE NARRATOR, Isaiah Hull & aloisius. life is beautiful is a home for freedom in the exploration & expression of feeling, no matter how simple or abstract.