STEPHANIE

After winning her first international title, an 11-year-old gymnast experiences both new pressures and a new degree of self-awareness. The more recognition she gets, the more she realizes that the game only has begun.

Director: Leonardo Van Dijl
Live-Action, Belgium, 2020
14:58 min | trailer
nominated for Best New Horizon Short Film 20MINMAX 2021, Youth Jury Award 20MINMAX 2021

Leonardo van Dijl made his debut with Get Ripped. After it premiered at Outfest Los Angeles, the short film was given the Grand Jury Award. Two years later he obtained a Master degree in film at the Luca School of Arts Brussels with the short film Umpire, which premiered at the Filmfestival of Locarno. It was given an honorable mention at the filmfestival of San Sebastian and went on winning a Wildcard for Best Short Film by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund. His new short Stephanie was selected for the Official Competition of Cannes 2020. Meanwhile Leo has continued to direct a myriad of work such as music videos for Oscar & The Wolf, School is Cool and Soldier’s Heart and worked for brands such as the Antwerp Fashion Academy, Fifa, Ab Inbev and Prada. He collaborated with artists such as Peter de Potter and Nicolas Karakatsanis. Currently he is writing his first feature film.

YOUTHFUL MOMENTS

Movies



  • HEADING SOUTH

    8 years old girl Chasuna travels from her home on grassland to visit her father who lives in the big city. However, during her father’s birthday party, Chasuna finds out he has remarried to a Chinese woman. Chasuna has to learn how to accept her as part of the family....

  • STEPHANIE

    After winning her first international title, an 11-year-old gymnast experiences both new pressures and a new degree of self-awareness. The more recognition she gets, the more she realizes that the game only has begun. ...

  • FINIS TERRAE

    Travis and Peter, two childhood friends in their mid-twenties, decide to go on a camping trip to spend some time together. The desolate nature which surrounds them will highlight their differences and the distance that separates them....

  • INSIDE

    Inside unrolls a mosaic of windows, those of the building that I regularly filmed from my own window. Along this border where the interior opens onto the exterior, a multitude of moments of everyday life overlap and respond to each other, forming a choreographic fresco of simple gestures....

  • COME FIND ME

    A sensitive five-year-old girl searches for comfort and ballast when a tragic event engulfs her parents in grief; unable to make contact, she drifts into a world of fantasy. ...

  • A HOLIDAY FROM MOURNING

    A teenage girl attempts to flee the grief she has felt since her mothers' death by going on a post-exam trip to a Portuguese party town. But the faster she runs, the more the feeling she is trying to escape from catches up on her. ...

  • ZIGGY

    A heart-broken young woman is left to look after her friends' heavy breathing pet bulldog while they're away on vacation....