Jozefien Van der Aelst (°1996, BE) is a film director and writer. In her hybrid worlds, often on the brink of collapse, she explores the relationship between humans and nature, encompassing themes such as emergence, spatial narrativity, cartography, landscape, catastrophe, and ecology. She holds an MA in Philosophy and a BA in Theatre, Film & Literature Studies, and later enrolled at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in Berlin as a film director.
2025, Germany, 2K | 25fps | 22' | DCP | Written & Directed by Jozefien Van der Aelst
Based on true events and testimonies, the film tells the individual fates of people during a catastrophic flood. In the chaos, a belief in a miracle awakens.
2024, Germany, 2K | 25fps | 29' | DCP | Written, Directed, Edited by Jozefien Van der Aelst | Music by William Basinski
Young Isa is forced into a journey by a shattering blow of fate, leading her to a realm where wishing creates realities. She is a girl with a vision of a dark, essential world hidden within the world of appearances. 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑯𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍
2024, Germany/Belgium, DCP | Pal MiniDV | 720x576 pixel | 25fps (progressive scan) | 41' | Written, Directed, Edited by Jozefien Van der Aelst | Produced by KINO KOMBAT Filmproduction | Music by Akira Rabelais
Traveling to high altitudes, along the sites and sounds of a haunted mountain range with a troubled history, we come to know a solitary man who is living alone in a deserted village where he is acting out the part of a foreboding watchman. However, within his world on top of the mountain, Graziano is not only foreseeing and reflecting on worldly affairs “down there”, he also fights ghosts vandalizing his property and hints at a spiritual reality beyond material living. Graziano writes down spiritual spells, political comments and opinions on wood and cardboard and assembles them all over the village. Next to being a painter of signs for his “yard show”, Graziano also adopts the persona of an amorous opera singer and uses the desacralized church as his stage for his hymns to love. In Graziano’s constant search for a long lost love, the film is filled with a melancholic longing. We search with him for the shadow of this woman and her identity. Will he ever be able to give his desire a name? In this speculative film of hermetic life, the camera gazes at Graziano’s folk art environment and delves into his outsider melancholic enclave filled with both desire and rage. 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒔𝒃𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔, 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒆𝒊𝒋𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, 𝑭𝑳𝒊𝑴𝑴 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒖 𝑴𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒏-𝑴é𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔, 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝑼𝑲
2022, Germany, 2K | 4:3 | 24' | DCP | Written, Directed, Edited by Jozefien Van der Aelst | Music by Seigen Ono
After the sudden collapse of Monte Kali’s core, the miners are swallowed by darkness. Trapped in the silence of the deep earth, they start to remember. One of them is haunted by images far beyond what any prayer can reconcile. Hᴏɴᴏʀᴀʙʟᴇ ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀᴛ 𝘍𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘥𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘺 𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘰, sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 (𝘐𝘕𝘌𝘍𝘍), 𝘍𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘦𝘵𝘤.
2022, Germany, 2K | ProRes4x4 | 1.66:1 | 18'41" | Written & Directed by Jozefien Van der Aelst
The short film's narrative of fear ties landscape to character: "A Good Place To End" is a tale of orientation and disorientation. A teenage girl on a quest, a hunter trying to protect the area, and a woman sick of waiting, all wander their uncanny village, the surrounding countryside and the nearby dark forest. The three characters cross each other, but never really meet. Jozefien Van der Aelst's exploration of spatial narrativity delves into the interconnectedness of space and narrative. By intertwining the physical environment with the emotional landscapes of her characters, she orchestrates a symphony of sensory experiences that challenge our perception of storytelling itself.
2024, Germany, DCP
Short film in post-production. Forthcoming 2024.
2020, Germany, Apple ProRes 4444 | 4:3 | 00:13:31
After a taxi fails to bring two boys to their assumed destination, an endless search forces them to travel from one hotel room to another. The film is about arriving and departing, erasing the possibility of destination – about remembering and forgetting.
2019, Germany, 16mm | colour | 00:06:19 | Written, Directed & Edited by Jozefien Van der Aelst
Jozefien Van der Aelst’s narrative/play “The Case For Letting Our Town Burn” unfolds in ambiguous territory; set in a landscape where a disastrous event may or may not have struck a surreal house is filled with “survivors” who are calling upon language and repetition. While a mantle of heat is pressing in on the house, the five inhabitants become detached from their names and cope with their melting world by experimenting with language. The days are hotter, hungrier – everyone shiny with sweat. We find ourselves in the middle of their discussion, dreaming up previous worlds, no longer possible to tell which is real, and slowly figure out that their conversations function like a ritual. They pretend to struggle for their emancipation, but in the end they never dare to leave the house. And then everything starts all over again. How long does it take a house to burn anyway?
Lamentations is a narrative scored for two performers and conceived for choir. A story of heat is performed with an ensemble of male voices. The narrative "Lamentations" – a reference to John Tavener’s choral piece Thrinos – is part of the series "Warmth Scenarios" and can be seen as a prequel to "The Case For Letting Our Town Burn".
Dogs sleeping at holy places and their dream marks in the sand.
Research trip in Belgium: exploring the mines for the development of my film "Monte Kali"
Selection of longer series.
