Tom van Bauwel
During a scorching summer in a Belgian-Dutch border village, eight teenagers play games of discovery to break the listless monotony. They challenge each other and themselves and pretty soon, their sexual curiosity starts to blur the lines between right and wrong. As innocence is crushed in depraved games and sexual exploitation, the teenagers soon turn into ruthless predators.
Belgium, of all places. What's Belgium got besides chocolates and fries? No matter, this year it was Hannes' and Kiki's turn to choose the destination of their annual bike tour with their closest friends. They all looks forward to the adventure, after all they know that what counts the most is the time they spend together. It's only after the tour has begun that Hannes tells his friends that he's suffering from an incurable disease. The trip is to be his last. At first, the group is shocked and helpless, but after they hit the road again, they embark on a wild and one-of-a-kind adventure. Through Hannes, they realize how precious life is. Equipped with a list of things that still remain to do, and aware that nothing will be the same after this trip, they celebrate life as they never did before.
Mila, a 12-year-old rebellious girl has a secret crush on her 40 year old neighbour and coach, Sam. When Mila finds out that he's moving away to Italy for at least a year, she conceives the plan to go with him.
On the day of his forced retirement, a grumpy school principal decides, together with his neighbour, to search for a wife on the Internet...
Shades is a film about (imaginary) Belgian serial killer Freddy Lebecq which producer Max Vogel, a former lawyer, is determined to make into an internationally co-produced, relatively big budget-production Hollywood style, with a director from the States. To that end he cuts deals with and often behind the backs of just about everybody, including Lebeq -who has the book rights-, his lawyer who hopes to use proceeds donated to the relatives to facilitate early release, even the victims, always trying to get the media circus to yield priceless publicity. However not only the lead actor proves a loose canon, even Lebecq ends up killing his lawyer and escaping, when he believes the movie is hurting his case
Sammy Raes, a nice, naive law-freshman from a simple family, dies in a form of hazing known as the 'flying carpet'. The father of the arrogant fraternity president Guy Bogaerts who ordered this reckless procedure abuses his connections to prevent a judicial homicide conviction, while the college authorities prefer to avoid a scandal in the press. However Sammy's freshmen friends Tom Smits and Denn
In this light-hearted low-budget comedy, two very different Flemish tween bachelors are best buds. Peter is a responsible professional, who's excited to get his first proper account as copy-writer in a small Belgian publicity firm- for condoms, a product the conservative boss dreads as slightly obscene. Tom however is a dare-all without much sense of decency, who earns his living as process-server and repo-man for a judicial bailiff. In their free time they're nearly inseparable, Tom cheering up his somewhat gloomy realistic friend and urging him to take silly risks during a weekend at the seaside and even cheat on his steady girlfriend. When the graphics department refuses to execute Peters idea for the condom campaign without a live male model, only Tom is pleasantly mad enough to pose stark-naked.
