25/03/2025 - The pair discuss their Streamz series that tackles the homelessness crisis head on but never forgets the dark humour

Frederik Daem (left) and Deben Van Dam

The Streamz series Putain [+see also:
interview: Frederik Daem, Deben Van Dam
series profile], competing in the International Panorama at Series Mania, was created by rapper Zwangere Guy and Frederik Daem. Written by Daem, Deben Van Dam and Nadège Bibo-Tansia, it follows Brussels-based Gigi, who leaves home after discovering his ex-junkie mum is dating her ex again. But the streets of Brussles are full, and the nights are cold.

Cineuropa: It’s obvious that the homelessness crisis is only getting worse in many cities. You tackle it in a very empathetic way.
Frederik Daem: I remember us sitting in a small coffee shop in Brussels. The refugee crisis was ongoing, and nobody wanted to take responsibility for it. We saw this huge camp, right next to the canal. I’ve never seen anything like it. Brussels is the capital of Europe; it’s a very socialist city, and for some, it’s the only place they can go. But it was winter.

In the city, there are all these structures trying to help us, but there’s also anonymity. You can lose your sense of direction. Now, it’s becoming more apparent in smaller places as well. Everybody’s struggling. This angry boy, Gigi, is confronted with all this harshness.

Deben Van Dam: When something is so visible and yet everyone looks away, you need to address this issue with care and sincerity. We were wondering: how can we make a show about someone who struggles with the idea of having a home, in a literal and figurative way? Before, I was working on a film about a similar topic. I went to a homeless shelter just when COVID-19 broke out. I asked someone who had worked there for a while if their ideas about homelessness had changed. She said: “I didn’t realise it can happen to anyone.” Even former CEOs. There’s nothing but luck that prevents you from becoming homeless.

We are making it sound so serious right now, but your show is extremely watchable. These characters are so… funky. There’s humour here, too.
DVD: We wrote most of it together, me and Frederik, and I think we all have this tendency to be drawn to drama. Still, I can’t help but try to make him laugh while working on a scene. I’ve always loved the kind of shows where the tone is not instantly obvious. If I had to pick just one genre, I would struggle.

FD: We have been friends for such a long time. We studied together, and we met when we were 19. It’s a series about people growing up and squaring up against their parents, so we talked about our childhoods as well. We always talk more than we work [laughs]. We noticed that we’ve always coped with problems this way: through humour. With my friends, we would laugh to make things less hard. Putain is not autobiographical, but finding humour in pain, and balancing comedy and drama, was something we knew how to do.

DVD: I believe there’s not that much difference between them. Humour allows you to process very difficult things. It’s healthy, but you can also be afraid of offending someone. Still, we were lucky to be at the point in our lives when we just wanted to tell our stories. And we are ready to fight for it.

FD: It’s good that we are not in our twenties any more – we would sell out for sure [laughs]. We would believe that you have to appeal to a wider audience, or your peers. We don’t have any peers! We just want to make something we think is good. One of the actresses in the show appreciated its humour, too. She said that when you laugh, your defences are lowered. It’s a moment of innocence, but then something tragic happens again. We wanted to surprise people this way and shock them when they’re still laughing.

You are still young, but you talk about people who are even younger. Was it difficult?
DVD: We had a thorough casting process. We were inspired by what they did on City of God, when they went to favelas in Rio de Janeiro to look for the right kids. We asked Zwangere Guy, who’s a popular rapper with a huge following, to help us launch a casting call. Later, we made a very intuitive selection of 80 people and started a workshop.

Each week, we would meet with some of them and just talk – about their lives, about the themes of the series, about their experiences with drugs, about their families. We did it for two years and just kept rewriting. We were open about the things we didn’t know about, and they felt comfortable telling us: “Nobody talks like that.” We encouraged the actors to speak in their own language.

FD: We tried to have a very open approach, also because our main cast had never really done anything. Apart from Felix Heremans, who had a small role in Fien Troch’s Holly [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fien Troch
film profile], which we didn’t even know at the time.

DVD: He would get upset every time I asked: “How do you see this character?” He would yell: “That’s your job!” [laughs] – which is, well, true. But the more comfort you create on set, the better it is to work.