'Jonah Was Here' premieres at Film Fest Gent

"You can't just clean it all up," Bob shouts as his ex-wife clears out their late son's room. We all grieve and find comfort in different ways. The same goes for the divorced neurologist, who immerses himself in the student room—and the life—of his son. Suddenly, Bob finds himself among students again; he gets to know his son’s roommates and meets the girl his son was likely crushing on. Seven years after her poetic debut Le passé devant nous, director and KASK alumna Nathalie Teirlinck returns with an unexpectedly tender film, partly shot in Ghent, about a man stubbornly clinging to the last traces of his son. A simple yet clever screenplay by Teirlinck herself supports a lead performance by Koen De Bouw, who portrays a character who is disoriented yet relatable and endearing.

For Nathalie Teirlinck, this is also a deeply personal story that she felt needed to be told. "The film isn't about the moment grief ends, but about how life slowly begins to weave itself back in. For me, Jonah Was Here is about our immense resilience, about how we tenaciously keep searching for connection and meaning, even when everything is falling apart. I wanted to make a film where, at any given moment, you aren't quite sure whether to smile or choke back tears. I think audiences will discover a side of Koen De Bouw they might not expect: disarming, quirky, funny, and quite unpredictable."