I shot the short-film “En ce moment” during the Covid-19 lockdown in Belgium.
On March 19, Ophélie, the girl I had recently started a relationship with, moved into my house to face quarantine together.
From the very beginning, our relationship proved to be problematic and with the pandemic’s altered daily life rhythms, it turned into an intense battle, scattered with exhausting attempts at creating a communication that would allow us to express our respective needs.
The film stems from my need to create an emotional connection with Ophélie, little inclined to understand and express her own emotions, and prisoner of the relationship with her previous partner from whom she was never able to free herself, despite the decision to start a relationship with me.
At that moment, my deep need was to get out of the insane relational dynamics that have accompanied me over the years and to finally involve myself into an authentic encounter with my partner and build a relationship based on reciprocity and real presence.
I am a photographer but in this case, I wanted to experience the moving image. I was looking for a language that could record this constant attempt at finding a balance between me and her. I wanted the camera to be the witness of our daily struggle, the instrument to express my need to be understood, loved, accepted and the consequent frustration of unfulfilled desires and expectations.
This film is my attempt at narrating the difficulty of the relationship, the expressed and unexpressed needs, a consequence of our personal past experiences that we project onto each other by creating a system of impossible encounters.
To watch the short-film click here: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0crbs6v/longshots-2022-two-young-women-on-an-intense-love-affair-
