Synopsis

Philippe Vandenberg (1952 -2009) is one of the greatest Belgian painters of recent decades. For him, painting was linked to life itself. It was a necessity, an attitude independent of trends or commercial interests. His life played out in the studio.
The painter's studio in Molenbeek is therefore given a central place in the essay film Kamikaze. This space, where Vandenberg's archive and oeuvre have been kept since his death, will be traversed in a twenty-minute shot. During this circumambulation, his work, his props and the memories of his existence will be portrayed, interspersed with image fragments from the films made about him during his lifetime. Reflected by mirrored surfaces, they are integrated into the film. A voice-over based on the painter's writings accompanies this in a
poetic manner.
The theme connecting this filmed circumambulation is kamikaze. The term often appears in the artist's later paintings. But it was also his life motto and sums up his vision of artistry. For him, creation was accompanied by destruction, because no art would be born in repetition: an image is created only when one frees oneself from known motifs and thinking is put on the line. This was the kamikaze for Vandenberg.
The film galvanises this principle by depicting the painter's oeuvre. Through its permanent cycle of destruction and renewal, it will make kamikaze tangible. On a textual level, the voice-over reinforces the principle. The text used for this purpose is conceived as a personal diary and borrows ideas from the diaries, letters and texts in which Vandenberg probleatised the kamikaze. The text Le triomphe de l'accident formed an initial starting point for this film.
The film also embodies the Kamikaze. Its travel-shot always puts something at stake. The filmmaker either fails or achieves, it is all or nothing: 'L'Importance, c'est le Kamikaze'.

Visit the website of the Philippe Vandenberg Foundation