Meeuwen sterven in de haven (Seagulls Die in the Harbour)

From the 1930s onwards, Flanders has had a small but steady film production, mostly comedies. In 1955, Roland Verhavert, (author) Ivo Michiels and Rik Kuypers shot Seagulls Die in the Harbour with private money, a film later regarded as the first Flemish art-house film. In 1956, the film made it into Competition at Cannes. Seagulls Die in the Harbour follows a man (Julien - father of Matthias - Schoenaerts) who, after a terrible crime, wanders the streets and docks of Antwerp. On this journey, hounded by guilt and feverishly searching for redemption, he meets an orphan and two women. Seagulls Die in the Harbour combines the European film modernism of its era with expressionist lighting, finished off with a touch of film noir. Schoenaerts is magnetic as the lost soul in search of something to hold on to. With a soundtrack featuring, among others, Antwerp jazz legend Jack Sels. Ripe for (re)discovery.

The film was restored by CINEMATEK in 2026.