The National Competition at the eighth Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) has played host to the debut feature-length documentary by a young Belgian filmmaker, Thomas Damas. Damas turned heads in 2018 with his graduation film, Et Arnaud, an immensely affectionate portrait of the filmmaker’s brother, ensnared in the grip of alcoholism, constituting a discreet but intimate depiction of a close relation in the midst of self-destruction. He continues exploring the dynamics at play within families with his new film, To Meet Again, which was world-premiered at the most recent Jean Rouch International Festival in Paris last May, where it picked up the Audience Award, to boot.

The movie thrusts us into the heart of a mobile unit hosting families whose members have been temporarily separated by public institutions. These are travelling facilities, in this case a refitted lorry, implemented by the Ministry of Justice in order to offer parents who have lost custody of their children safe and neutral meeting places, under the watchful eye of the dedicated hosting staff. They provide a supervised space and set time period that allow contact to be reestablished. The parent in question can thus maintain a relationship with the child, while the youngster feels reassured as they reunite with their father or mother, in a gradual process.

In this long-term project, Damas follows two mothers over the course of a year – women who are using this method to try to retain or rebuild a bond with their child that’s been damaged by life, past mistakes and family conflict. The story unfolds in the present day; there is no context provided about the families’ journeys other than what the children say about them, a few snippets of information about the dreaded conflicts or the fears that must be dispelled. The subject of the fear is not the issue, even if we’re able to sense that the presence of a violent spouse, an overly painful loss or repeated separations have been able to erode, or even destroy, their confidence. On one hand, we follow a young woman, who is pregnant at the start of the film, and who wishes to find her two daughters born of two different unions. The relationships with the fathers, who have custody of the children, are still very strained, and one of the two seldom presents his daughter during the appointments set up by the institution. Despite these absences, the mother still tries to maintain the connection, come what may, using whatever means she has at her disposal, like a snack or a present. On the other hand, we have a mother separated from her teenage daughter, who is nearing adulthood and who has requested to stay with her foster parents at least until the end of the school year. Despite this decision, which is a difficult one to make for both mother and daughter, their meetings are brimming with a love and a personal connection that, over the course of the film, become stronger once again.

Through this sensitive look at proceedings behind closed doors, between the walls of the “Meeting Place”, Thomas Damas allows us to see how family ties, as tenuous as they may be owing to the complex situations endured by its protagonists, must be cherished and carefully maintained, with the discreet but unwavering help of the counsellors who supervise these moments when the fragile family unit is recreated.

To Meet Again was produced by Mathieu Volpe and Luna Blue Film, and will be distributed in Belgium by Screen Box.