TRYING TO FORGET TO REMEMBER
written & directed by Caroline Strubbe
Trying to forget to remember is a trilogy directed by Caroline Strubbe and produced by Tomas Leyers between 2007 and 2025. Filmed over 15 years with the same cast, this trilogy explores the journey of Tess, a young girl raised by dysfunctional parents in a Flemish no-man’s-land. Due to a traumatic event Tess forms an unusual companionship with Szabolcs, a quiet Hungarian migrant seeking for a better life. Driven by projection she finally finds relief in acceptance and forgiveness.
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Composed of three films Lost Persons Area, I’m the Same I’m an Other, and The Silent Treatment - a Belgian Girlhood - can be viewed in any order. Each film stands alone, yet together they reveal as a mini-series a deeper portrait of identity and emotional survival. Depending on the order they are viewed, the spectator will have a different perception on the characters.
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This echoes the director’s belief that our reading of a person is shaped by our awareness of their personal history. Themes of loss, love and the healing power of imagination resonate throughout, as Strubbe invites viewers to reassemble narrative meaning through memory and empathy. How we can find faith in the things that can’t been seen. Sometimes we need to get lost to find the right way.
Official selections included Cannes, Toronto, Rotterdam and MoMA NY.
LOST PERSONS AREA
Bettina and Marcus, a passionate couple, live in a canteen in the middle of a vast field with endless lines of pylons. Marcus, trying to set up his own business, works as a foreman in the maintenance of these power-lines. Bettina, bored and longing for a better life, runs the canteen for the workingmen. Their 9-years-old daughter Tessa, wanders the industrial area, looking for bits and pieces to occupy her mind, skipping school whenever she can. When Marcus hires a Hungarian engineer, Szabolcs, to become part of his company, their unconventional way of living takes a new turn. A tragic accident although will shatter everyone's pursuit of happiness. Lost Persons Area is a story about people lost in the meanders of life.
I'M THE SAME I'M AN OTHER
An unorthodox road movie about an alleged Hungarian kidnapper and a weird Belgian girl on the run. A portrait of an unlikely companionship. I'm the same I'm an other combines all of these to tell the moving story of a man and a child in mourning as they journey through Western Europe.
THE SILENT TREATMENT
The Silent Treatment is a story about three characters whose lives are imprisoned in each other’s past. As a victim from Stockholm syndrome, the 18-year-old Belgian girl Tess developed an obsession for her allegedly kidnapper, the 43-year-old Hungarian Szabolcs. Through the actions of his partner, the 34-year-old Hungarian Andrea, Tess will finally find her peace. Andrea will help the young woman in changing her distorted relationship from obsessional love to an acceptance of past grief and lost love.