Celestino
HANS BRYSSINCK | In the presence of the filmmaker
During a sabbatical in Mexico, Belgian journalist Ivan follows the trail of the enigmatic writer Celestino Pérez. Upon arriving in the village where he is supposed to live, the author is nowhere to be found. The writer’s family welcomes Ivan, who, fascinated by the strange daily life of the household, finds himself drawn into an unexpected confinement. As the days pass, his own experience begins to dissolve into the imagined portrait of Celestino.
Fascinated by the apparent opposition between strangeness and familiarity, and inspired by his own embodied experience as a foreigner living in Mexico, Hans Bryssinck started to explore the notion of the intruder, the limits of hospitality, and how a strangeness lurks within each of us. Celestino is his first feature fiction film.
Hans Bryssinck is an artist, teacher and narrative practitioner, with a career spanning the visual, performing and audiovisual arts, focusing primarily on collaborative projects. His work includes the film Wilson y Los Más Elegantes (2014).
He is co-founder and artistic director of SPIN, a platform for artistic support based in Brussels. He also teaches Performance at the School of Arts in Ghent and Narrative Practices for Community Work and Education at UCIRED in Puebla, Mexico. He has been living in Mexico since 2016, where he wrote the screenplay for Celestino and directed the film.
Since 2019, his artistic and educational practice has been enriched by narrative practices. These bring a different approach to working with people and communities, centering ethics of care.
Duration: 69 min
Screening format: DCP/16:9/5.1 SRD
Original language: Spanish, French
Subtitles: Dutch
Genre: fiction
A film by: Hans Bryssinck • A production of: Mountain View • With: Jonathan Capdevielle, Martha Claudia Moreno, Sandra Celedón, Kerygma Flores, Evangelina Martínez • Script & Direction: Hans Bryssinck • Cinematography: Rosa Hadit • Art direction: Mara Ugalde • Editor: Julieta Seco • Sound recording: Gert Verboven • Sound design & mix: Matthias Hillegeer • Costumes: Diana Montesinos • Casting: Ana Patricia Ortiz Ayala • Grading: Xavier Dockx • Music performance: George van Dam • Delegate producer: Gert Verboven • Coproducer: Hans Bryssinck • Executive producers: Humberto Hinojosa & Pablo García • Line producer: Wannes Gevaert • A production of: Mountain View • A coproduction of: SPIN • With the support of: Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Tax Shelter Belgium, BUDA, Beursschouwburg, Colectivo Colmena, nona, VIERNULVIER