'Het Kwade Oog': alternative cinéclub
ANTWERP - On Saturday, January 17, the new Antwerp cinema club 'Het Kwade Oog', successor to 'Het Linnen Venster', will start with a new series of film screenings. Peak hour is at 8 p.m. inspired by the 1937 film "Het Kwade Oog" by Charles Dekeukelaire.
'Het Kwade Oog' is the direct successor of the film club 'Het Linnen Venster', the club that played a sensational role in the fifties with the screenings of highly experimental and alternative films. The first performance of this cinéklub took place on October 17, 1949 in the Roxy hall in Antwerp and the program included a film by (again) Charles Dekeukelaire: "De Stichter". The initiator was Karel Simons, and 'old hand' in the Antwerp film world. The performances in 'Het Linnen Venster' were initially quite regular, but from the early 1950s 'Het Linnen Venster' increasingly became a high-profile film organ. Midnight and Sunday morning performances, art films, Kino in the Attic, experimental films and films about theater were some of the activities. However, in the 1960s the activity of 'Het Linnen Venster' declined sharply, after which the curtain officially fell in '62.
And now there is 'Het Kwade Oog', temporarily housing the Archive and Museum for Flemish Cultural Life (AMVC) at Minderbroedersstraat 24 in Antwerp. The new cinéklub wants to follow the same line as 'Het Linnen Venster' in the 1950s: shocking, experimental and surreal films and also many conversations with young filmmakers.
The film 'The Evil Eye' by Charles Dekeukelaire tells the story of a vagabond who visits a childhood sweetheart, but is met with the incomprehension of the entire village. A peasant film and also one of the first Belgian feature films. (GDB) Info: Het Kwade Oog, Minderbroedersstraat 24. (03) 236 82 59.
