Jérôme Vandewattyne

Belgian director Jerome Vandewattyne began making his first feature film at the age of 25, spending over two years filming the tours of boogie punk band The Experimental Tropic Blues Band (produced by Jon Spencer). Spit'n'Split (2017) was born of these reported images. The director took the time to turn his subjects into actors, taking pleasure in losing his audience between reality and fiction. In the same spirit, he released his second feature in 2023, The Belgian Wave (Audacity Award 2023, Oldenburg Film Festival). The film delve back into the wave of UFO sightings that occurred in Belgium between 1989 and 1992.

Influenced by punk Japanese cinema, New Hollywood, exploitation films, gonzo journalism and psychedelia, Jerome Vandewattyne examines humanity through the prism of its strangest aspects. This organic weirdness can also be found in the gory aesthetics of his early short films. He was also commissioned by national Belgian television to produce TV series and a large number of commercials. Alongside his career as a film director, he's also the leader of the psychedelic grunge band VHS From Space and cold-wave/electro-rock duo Pornographie Exclusive alongside his partner Severine Cayron.