EASY TIGER
fiction film, 2022
1.33:1 (4:3) / colour / surround 5.1 / English, French & International Sign Language spoken, subtitled in English & Dutch, or in French / 60:00 minutes
This author's film is an intimate portrait of a vulnerable man during a true and insurmountable romance.
An unexpected moment in a session with a client confronts a psychologist with his own inner world. Alienated by the isolation of his seemingly perfect city life, the psychologist encounters an extreme inability to understand and embrace his own human nature. His inescapable desires for his male client force the psychologist to look at who he does not want to be. It is the only way that he can find out who he really is.
The film examines how the medium of film can be commemorated and used to place physicality as a narrative in front of the lens, and how the same audiovisual work can provide, as much as possible, the same experience for both hearing and non/partially-hearing viewers.
CREDITS
With, Mickaël Pelissier, Casper Wubbolts, Giada Castioni, Evgenia Brendes, Hilde Wils & Benjamin Ramon
Directed by Karel Tuytschaever
First assistant director, Louise De Groef
Production manager, Erik ‘Wolf’ Moonen
Sign language interpreter on set, Lissa Zeviar
Scenario, Karel Tuytschaever
Writing advice, Nathalie Haspeslagh
Dramaturgical advice, Melinda Van Berlo
English translation, Martha Gardner
Translation to International Sign Language, Jorn Rijckaert & Jaron C. Garitte
Director of Photography, Lothar Legon
First Assistant Camera & Focus Puller, Giel Dhaenens
Gaffer, Henry Commerman
Sound recordist & Boom Operator, Bruce Stevens
Art director, Gert Stas
Costume Designer, Chris Snik
Assistant Costume Designer, Eli Verkeyn
Make-up & Hair Artist, Alexander Kinds
Casting, Karel Tuytschaever
Catering, Erik Moonen
Set photographer & Making-of, Joery Erna
Edited by Karel Tuytschaever
VFX artist, Arno Ringoet & Bart Winckers
Colour grading, Kene Illegems
Sound design & mixage, Frederik Van de Moortel
Foley artist, Elias Vervecken
Foley recording studio, Rec‘N Roll
Foley studio engineer, Loïc Mulleneers
Location holders, Doktershuis Antwerp, Van der Valk Hotel Brasschaat, Art Center Hugo Voeten Herentals, ZEIT - Luc Franken Antwerp, Municipality Bergen Op Zoom, Q-park Antwerp, Koen Verkeyn - Chris Snik, Erik Moonen - Sarah Van Loon, Sint-Lievenscollege Antwerp
Thanks to, Dr. Ghada Ed Marogy, Bruno Maertens, Victor Lange, Sigrid Spruyt, GP group De Markgraaf Antwerp, Voordekunst, B&B hotel Antwerp, Squash Casteleyn Boom, Marlies Janssens, Sabrina Haazen, Manu Kamanda
Special thanks to Lisa Reinheimer, Wim van Stam, Dirk Verhoeven, Leon Caarls, Joke Daniëls, Petra Damen, Pieter Desmet, Joery Erna & Lumière Antwerp
Crowdfunders, Bart Hinderks, Bart van Merode, Chris Embrechts, Elke Van Mello, Guido Verelst, Klaartje Lambrechts, Leen Dendievel, Martine Van Canegem, Nathalie Haspeslagh, Nico Krols, Peter Anthonissen, Veerle Segers, Wim De Smet & those who wish to remain anonymous
Sponsor, Visual Box
A production of BARRY - Karel Tuytschaever
Co-producer, DansBrabant
With the financial support of Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds & Grensverleggers - deBuren, an arrangement to support cultural collaborations between parties in Flanders, the province of North Brabant, the province of Limburg and/or the Province of Zeeland
The film premiered on February 23, 2022, at Lumière cinema - Photo Museum, Antwerp.
DISTRIBUTION CONTACTS
Optimale Distribution for French-speaking Europe (including France, Monaco, Andorra, French-speaking Belgium, Luxemburg, and French-speaking Switzerland)
TLA Releasing for the United Kingdom (including Ireland), Poland and North America (i.e.: the United States of America and Canada)
BARRY for all other countries
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
2022, France, Paris Film Awards
Honourable Mention: Indie Feature Film
2022, India, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
Winner Debut Filmmaker
2022, Canada, Alternative Film Festival Spring 2022
Nominee for Best Actor and Best Writer
2022, Indiefare International Film Festival
Nominee for Best Queer Narrative
2022, Italy, Milan Gold Awards
Honourable Mention: Cinematography
2022, Czech Republic, Brno Film Festival
Nominee for First Time Director (Feature)
Winner Best LGBTQ
2022, France, Beyond the Curve International Film Festival
Winner Best Queer Narrative
2022, US, New York Movie Awards
Winner Silver award for Indie Feature Film
2022, Italy, Florence Film Awards
Winner Silver award for Indie Feature Film
2022, Indonesia, Fourth Dimension Independent Film Festival
Winner Best Experimental Film
2022, Sweden, Swedish International Film Festival
Nominee for Best Director
2022, Delta International Film Festival
Winner Best Queer Narrative
2022, Japan, Tokyo Film Awards
Silver winner for Best Inspirational Film
2022, Italy, Hollywood On The Tiber Film Awards
Winner Best Sound Design
2022, Japan, SENSEI Tokyo Film Fest
Winner Best Queer Film, Best Directing and Best International Film
2022, US, 1904 Deaf Film Festival
Winner Best Narrative Feature
2022, Belgium, Bruges International Film Festival
Winner Best Narrative Feature Film
2022, Germany, Filmhaus Berlin
Winner Best Directorial Debut
2022, Japan, The Continental Film Festival, Tokyo Edition
Winner Best Actor, Mickaël Pelissier
2023, The Netherlands, New Renaissance Film Festival
Winner Best LGBTQ+ Feature
2023, Canada, Toronto Film Week
Winner Best Narrative Feature Film
2023, Italy, Venice Film Week
Winner The Tarkovski Grant
Nominee for Producer's Night 2023
2024, India, The Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
Title of Maestro of Cinema
2024, Belgium, QueerCine International Film Festival
Winner Best Narrative Feature Film
I AM A DARK ROOM
room-sized multimedia performance, 2022
9:16 screen / colour / surround 7.1 / a sitting stool / 20:00 minutes
This self-portrait is a study of sincere image composition, containing one's own body as a living sculpture. Karel places a frame around his own body and its interior space. His physical body, which is only a form, sometimes manifests itself merely in its essential formlessness. Landscapes appear within ourselves that disappear the moment we try to name or visualise them.
Making the twilight zone between image and non-image experienceable is Karel's quest. By relating body, image and sound, in a room-sized multimedia performance that the visitor visits individually, a space of imagination is created through which his physically intimate inner world can unfold.
Karel sees his self-portrait as an exercise in authentic introspection. He uses it as an instrument to search for the interspace, between disciplines, between his own image and his inner world. How can you take distance from your body, looking at it objectively (as a maker), whilst simultaneously experiencing that same body subjectively (from within)? Where is the image of oneself formed; inwardly, in the created image or in the viewer? Where exactly does a self-portrait arise; does it show what it hides, or does it hide what it wants to show? As a maker, he places himself as a human being abiding by the laws of his own practice. The only way to embody the innate essence of himself in his work is a process of letting go of personal resistance, control and fear. This body idea of surrender and the search for emotional availability, in relation to one's own working method as a maker, is perhaps the only way to honestly look at oneself as a human being, through the lens of one's own artistry.
CREDITS
Concept and embodiment, Karel Tuytschaever
Artistic collaborator for photography, Joery Erna
Artistic collaborator for sound design, Diederik de Cock
Artistic collaborator for photogrammetry, motion capture and 3D production, Wes Nijssen
Artistic collaborator for hair work, Alexander Kinds
Thanks to Peter Missotten, Immersive lab at AP Hogeschool, C-mine and LUCA School of Arts Genk
Co-produced by Royal Academy of Fine arts, Antwerp / AP Hogeschool, C-TAKT and DansBrabant
Made in residency at DansBrabant, De Brakke Grond, C-TAKT and Zuidpool
I AM A DARK ROOM is the finalization of the research project The transparent body, about the sincere body in contemporary portraiture (2020-2022).
The installation-performance was presented for the first time in November 2022, during a thematic three-day event around Karel's research journey at DansBrabant (NL).
PERSONAL NOTE
A self-portrait made in times when unhinged identitarian thinking reigns within the arts was not the initial plan. This extra dimension presented a challenge during the creation process. I deliberately transcend any typology or symbolic approach to the self-portrait genre; moving away from any kind of navel-gazing at one's own ego, autobiography or social representation.
36
room-sized multimedia performance, 2021
9:16 colour screen / 2 speakers / Dutch & English spoken, English subtitled / a sitting stool / a mirror / a sculpture / 2 frames / 24:29 minutes, in a loop
What can a portrait mean or make possible?
Over the period of one year, Karel put his body at the service of various 2D and 3D visual artists. He asked all of them the same question: Would you like to make a portrait that you believe is a truly embodied portrait of me, seen through your eyes? Afterwards, he makes 36 encounters between him and portrait artists shareable in an installation: 36.
Karel researched portrait-making as part of his two-year research project at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp; The transparent body (2020-2022). With his background in the performative arts, he wants to gain insights into the way visual artists look at bodies today.
CREDITS
Concept, text, edit, voice, Karel Tuytschaever
Sculpture and painting photography, Joery Erna
English editor, Martha Gardner
Portraits made by Jack Davey, Senne Roekens, Chris Snik, Robert Soroko, Anna Sastré Garcia, Bruno Ledeyt (fourth image on the left), Rochus Marr, Cisse Royens, Yorgos Maraziotis, Alexandra Panoutsopoulou, Jente De Graef, Jill Bertels, Olivier De Vos (third image on the left), Joery Erna (sixth image on the left), Glenn Cox, Barbara Vandendriesche, Eva van Aken, Stefanie de Bakker, Gina Siliquini (second image on the left), Assia Bert, Axelle Van Meel, Saverio Sammartino (fifth image on the left), Sam Beddegenoodts, Giulia Cauti, Daria-Ana Oprean, Sarah Kirchner, Charlotte Hannes, Kris Meeusen and Yanis Berrewaerts.
Thanks to, Ingrid Leonard / FOMU, Piet Van Hecke / M HKA & Katleen Vinck
Special thanks to research group Body and Material Reinvented, Roel Arkesteijn & Ria De Boodt
Co-produced by Royal Academy of Fine arts, Antwerp / AP Hogeschool, C-TAKT and DansBrabant
In residency at DansBrabant, Zuidpool and C-TAKT
36 opened on 7 September 2021 at C-Mine, Genk, during the C-TAKT festival.
THE FUTURE DANCE ARTIST NOW
documentary film, 2021
16:9 / color / stereo / Dutch and English spoken, English subtitled / 30:00 minutes
The Bachelor Dance department at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, asked Karel to make an audio-visual work about the current programme. As a teacher and mentor, Karel knows the daily habitat inside out. He followed three students during their daily training for one month, and created a sincere image from the heart of the practice, a look into the studios with the students.
THE FUTURE DANCE ARTIST NOW is a personal portrait of education in motion.
CREDITS
with Martha Gardner, Raphael Damasceno Ferreira de Moura, and Maisie Woodford
Script, production, camera, editing, voice-over, and direction, Karel Tuytschaever
Assistance and color grading, Joery Erna
Thanks to Greet Boterman, Judith Clijsters, Yasemin Kandemir, Tijen Lawton, Anouk Llaurens, Rakesh Sukesh, Liese Stuer,
Bart Van Bulck, Goele Van Dijck, Geneviève Van Quaquebeke, Tony Vezich & all the students and staff of the dance department
Special thanks to Natalie Gordon, Nienke Reehorst and Iris Terclaevers
Comissioned by AP Hogeschool / Royal Conservatoire Antwerp
Co-produced by BARRY
With the support of De Vlaamse overheid
The film premiered on February 8, 2021 at the Next doors festival, in Antwerpen. Since then, the film is to be seen online on the website of the Schools of Arts.
V.
solo audio performance in your own city, 2021
stereo / Dutch spoken / 38:22 minutes
A man likes to look at people in his city. He specifically loves one woman. Even though he has never met her, he loves her from the image of her in his head.
At dusk, during this intimate and individual listening experience, the spectator's living environment will play the leading role in what unfolds before him. Urban space forms a dramaturgical narrative, whereby sound becomes the means of perceiving your fellow man and reflecting on your city in times of a global pandemic. What to do with the longing for someone else?
CREDITS
Concept, text and voice, Karel Tuytschaever
Voice, Ariane Van Vliet
Sound scenery, Diederik De Cock
Co-produced by DansBrabant & Moving Futures Festival
With the support of WALPURGIS
The première took place on april 23, 2021 during the online Moving Futures Festival, The Netherlands.
MAKER'S NOTE
V. has been specifically developed for the digital version of the Moving Futures Festival 2021.
The nature of Karel's work invites spectators to look at physicality with an open and sensory view. Normally, STRANGER would be seen during the originally planned traveling festival. Karel decided not to digitize this performance. The abducting of work made for the theater or museum space to another medium, the digital space, does not provide the true context to look at this work, which was specifically made to be experienced live. Instead, he saw the change from a physical to a digital festival as an opportunity to reinterpret an earlier work.
What happens to a work if a viewer can determine his own space for the moment of the performance and thus partially takes over his role as a maker? How does this change the dynamic relationship between himself as the maker, the spectator, and their (imaginary) space?
STRANGER
dance performance piece, 2019
From one male body, Karel explores different ideas about the man, the different types of bodies that we have to shape with our one body. The performance shows different perspectives on male physicality in dance and film and is located in the fluid zone between what man you are and what man you want to be.
STRANGER zooms in and out with our largest organ, the skin, as the only filter. The skin that breathes, makes contact and is the closest connection between yourself and the other.
CREDITS
Created with and embodied by Laurent Delom de Mézerac
Direction, Karel Tuytschaever
Set design + lighting designed by Lies Van Loock
Sound design, Frederik Van de Moortel
Artistic collaborator for costumes, Chris Snik
Artistic collaborator for film, Joery Erna
Artistic collaborator for film + visual effects, Arno Ringoet
Foley artist for film, Elias Vervecken
FX makeup artist for film, Labhise Allara Mandango Ciratu
Ceramics for film, Kachiri Faes
Graphic design for ceramics, Jeroen Los
Dramaturgical advice by Jesse Vanhoeck
Artistic outside eye, Nienke Reehorst
With thanks to Schippers&VanGucht, Rec’N Roll studio, Nicolas Baeyens / Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Piet Van Dycke, Sander Boschma, Willy De Vocht + Eli Verkeyn
Research interviewees, Bram De Groote, Nicola Brajato, Jaan Jochems, Pascal Gielen and Peter De Graef
Co-produced by C-TAKT + DansBrabant
Production assistance by Evelien van de Sanden + Pien Rutten
Poster image by Joery Erna
Recording of the performance, Peter Franken
Scene photography, Alwin Poiana
New Adventures Resident with and with the support of Dansmakers Amsterdam and ICK Amsterdam
Was made possible by Grensverleggers, an arrangement to support cultural collaborations between parties in Flanders, the Province of North Brabant, the Province of Limburg and the Province of Zeeland
With the support of Zuidpool
The performance had its Belgian premiere on September 14, 2019, at C-TAKT # 3 festival in Genk, and its Dutch premiere on September 26, 2019 in De Nieuwe Vorst in Tilburg.
A SITTING MAN
video, 2019
4:3 / colour / stereo / Dutch spoken, English subtitled / 12:53 minutes
To what extent does the current visual culture influence our image of man?
Fundamental questions about the relationship between physicality, nature and digital image culture arise. This experimental video investigates the male body image in his intimate space, and at the same time the associated concept of social representation.
CREDITS
with Laurent Delom de Mézerac
Script, direction and editing, Karel Tuytschaever
D.O.P., Joery Erna
Sound design, Frederik Van de Moortel
Costume, Chris Snik
Visual effects, Arno Ringoet
Foley artist, Elias Vervecken
Foley recordist, Stéphane Werner
FX makeup artist, Labhise Allara Mandango Ciratu
Ceramics, Kachiri Faes
Graphic design for ceramics, Jeroen Los
Thanks to Schippers&VanGucht, Rec’N Roll studio, Nicolas Baeyens / Koninklijke Academie voor Schone kunsten Antwerpen
Co-produced by DansBrabant
With the support of ICK
The video installation premiered on October 25, 2019 at the ICK FEST, Amsterdam.
TOM
performance piece, 2018
A man lives in the city.
He sits, he lies, he stands, he calls.
He looks.
He thinks, he talks, he imagines.
He looks.
He is restless.
In this crossover, performance art, visual art and sound blend into and reinforce each other.
CREDITS
Created with and embodied by Luuk Weers, Karel Tuytschaever
Text and direction, Karel Tuytschaever
Sound design, Diederik De Cock
Dramaturgy, Maaike Schuurmans
Scenography, Lies Van Loock
Sculptural work, Jack Davey
Costume design and execution, Chris Snik
Photographer & image and light advice, Joery Erna
Movement advise, Nienke Reehorst
Text advise, Ariane Van Vliet
English translation performance text, Koen De Smet
Co-production with KAAP, C-TAKT
In residence with and in collaboration with Makershuis Tilburg, DansBrabant,
Het Zuidelijk Toneel, De Warande, Zuidpool
Thanks to WALPURGIS, ICK Amsterdam, Leonore Spee, Maarten Heijnens
With the financial support of the Flemish government
The performance premiered on 9 May, 2018 at Zuidpool, Antwerp.
GHOST BOY
letters and video installation, 2017
What is your relationship with your own body?
Is the body actively acting, or merely a carrier?
What if you are in the service of your own body?
What is the impact of a physical profession on your own intimacy?
As a performer, Karel often experiences a sense of emotional prostitution. After all, you give what the audience needs. As a result, he wondered how a male sex worker experiences his physical task. He, therefore, engaged in correspondence with male sex workers from various Belgian cities. Karel puts their world next to that of a dancer. What binds them is the question of how it feels when your body navigates between being the object and/or the subject?
GHOST BOY looks for the moment that the intimacy of the performer becomes the viewer’s intimacy.
CREDITS
Embodied by Daan Jaartsveld
Text, script, direction and editing, Karel Tuytschaever
Scenographic advice and execution, Lies Van Loock
With the support of KAAP, Antwerp Queer Arts Festival, Makershuis Tilburg
Thanks to Juicy IJsselmuiden, Boysproject Antwerp
The première took place on may 6, 2017 during the literature festival Bru-taal, Brugge.
NACHT (NIGHT)
8-channel radio-play installation, 2016
sound installation, accompanied by a sculptural work and a single-channel video / 38:59 minutes
Two lovers never see each other.
They only know each other’s voices.
They make love over the telephone.
As if shipwrecked by love, they yearn for a life in the city, without loneliness.
What is reality, what is fiction?
NACHT [NIGHT] is an intimate radio play of the senses. The spectator’s ear replaces the visual imagination.
CREDITS
Voice, Ariane Van Vliet and Karel Tuytschaever
Bodies in the video, Victor Dumont, Viktor De Greef
Installation
Concept, text and direction, Karel Tuytschaever
Sound design, Diederik De Cock
Dramaturgical advice, Maaike Schuurmans
Scenographic advice and execution, Lies Van Loock
Sculptural work, Jack Davey
Video
D.O.P., Maxime Desmet
Focus puller, Hannes Bruyneel
Assistant of director, Arber Aliaj
Gaffer, Lothar Legon
Electro, Edward Populaire
Set design and execution, Ruth Peeters
Costume design and execution, Chris Snik
Make-up and hair, Labhise Allara Mandango Ciratu
Executive producer on location, Kaat Haest
In residence with and in collaboration with WALPURGIS
Thanks to Daniel Andresen, Katrien De Greef en Maud Kuypers
NACHT [NIGHT] opened on 23 September 2016 at Kunstenhuis deFENIKS, Antwerp, in FENIKS festival.
BARE ROMANCE
fiction film, 2014
16:9 / colour / stereo / Dutch spoken, English subtitled / 29:53 minutes
A woman waits for the arrival of a man. They don't know each other. The only thing that unites them is the appointment to meet and to use each other. In an empty house in a forest, they are confronted with their search for love, and with their ambivalent sexuality.
BARE ROMANCE shows the minimalist, raw aesthetic of the beloved body.
CREDITS
Man, Victor Dumont
Woman, Giada Castioni
Man one, Viktor De Greef
Man two, Kasper Vandenberghe
Script, direction and editing, Karel Tuytschaever
D.O.P., Maxime Desmet
Focus Puller, Hannes Bruyneel
Assistant of director, Arber Aliaj
Managing director, Evy De Ceur
Gaffer, Lothar Legon
Electro, Edward Populaire
Set design and props, Ruth Peeters
Costume design and execution, Chris Snik
Lingerie design and execution, Judith Van Herck
Make-up and hair, Labhise Allara Mandango Ciratu
Runner, Alban Sarens
Set photographer, Louise De Groef
Sound design, Diederik De Cock
Sound mixing, Frederik Van De Moortel
Foley artist, Elias Vervecken
Foley Recordist, Stijn Jacobs
Recording Studio, Gonzo
Breath and voice man, Karel Tuytschaever
Breath and voice woman, Ruth Becquart
Colorist, Ben De Raes
Subtitles, Louise De Groef
English translation, Elisabeth ‘Libby’ Ward
In coproduction with Kris De Meester & Calling Elvis
Executive producer, Kaat Haest
The film received development-oriented support from the Flemish government.
The film premiered on October 11, 2014, at HETPALEIS, Antwerp.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Karel has imposed a number of guidelines on himself within which BARE ROMANCE has been established:
1. I will never tell my actors what they have to do, just what they have to be.
2. I will never rehearse too much. If the first time is good, I will always keep the first, even if it is contrary to what I wanted or expected.
3. I will choose only one subject per scene, so I cannot escape from focusing.
4. In what I do, I never think about good or bad. The only bad thing you can do as an artist is being untruthful.
5. I have not the intention to create a new way of making cinema. I’m making it for myself. I want to go beyond anything I have done before.
6. The power shift in a physical relationship will be the subject of the film in a pure sense. More than showing physical love.
7. The depth of a character is the depth of its sincerity.
8. I take sexuality as a subject, not as an object.
AWARDS
2017, The United States, LA Underground Film Forum,
Honorable mention
2017, France, Martinique International Film Festival,
Best narrative short film
2017, India, Indian World Film Festival,
Best director
2017, The United Kingdom, The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards,
Best direction of the season
2015, Australia, Sydney World Film Festival,
Best narrative short film
2015, The United Kingdom, The monthly film festival,
Best cinematographer
2015, India, Indian Cine Film Festival,
Special festival mention
2015, India, Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival,
Special mention jury
2015, India, Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival,
Special festival mention