Phoenix

Bram Droulers | Belgium | 2021 | 65' |

| IFFR 2021

Freewheeling film celebrating both sexual and stylistic fluidity. Phoenix literally changes colour as the characters circle one another. A medical student who sometimes rents out a room in his house receives a visit from a young woman he was romantically involved with the previous summer. But he shows little interest in her – mainly because he’s now in love with Harry.

In Phoenix there are no fixed categories, either in relation to sexual orientation or film style: fluidity is the norm. The main character, for example, is bisexual; and his short-haired female visitor looks pretty androgynous. The film’s style is equally fluid, with some passages in monochrome shades, black and white and a pastiche of 1980s video clips. At times Phoenix becomes a silent film, with intertitles or script notes appearing on screen. The man in the story is referred to as 1, the woman as 2. In addition, the film features a lot new-wave style music, much of which was composed by director/polymath Bram Droulers.