Dirk Hendrikx

Since the early 1990s DIRK HENDRIKX has been working as an artist in the area where installation, film and performance art overlap. Whether on stage, in a studio or outdoors, his ideas always involve a strong physical interaction between himself and his surroundings. ‘I never saw myself as a performer, a dancer or an actor,’ says Dirk. ‘For me it’s more like going into a trance, into a feeling or a situation. It’s like I am making living sculptures, performances as poetry. I aim at becoming a primitive version of the modern artist.'

Benny Vandendriessche

‘Through DRIFT, I aim at creating a reality that is strong, pure and simple. I want to offer a powerful tactile and contemplative experience. The audience of DRIFT has to feel, rather than to understand.

To me, DRIFT deals with the vague line between beauty and pain. I explore this ambiguity through a cinematic fable, set in a remote unknown world. The core of DRIFT depicts the melancholic journey of the Drifter. He mourns after loosing his wife. As he becomes insane, he finds salvation. In long implicit images I “sculpt” his time, creating an emotional flow that suggests meaning but offers few answers. I invite the audience to develop its own reading of the Drifter, based on their intuition.

DRIFT also tells us the story of his wife. How she travelled this far to perform a poetic euthanasia, another gesture of beauty and pain. I deliberately chose not to install this act as a moral dilemma. I believe self-determination is one of our profound rights that needs not be questioned.

I have set the story in a real but barren landscape. Many shots confront the fictional Drifter with the reality of a location, a pack of stray dogs or a group of gypsies. I use the authenticity of reality to reinforce the unreal.

Dirk Hendrikx plays the role of the Drifter. My collaboration with Dirk has been essential to define the concept of a physical film, as his body is the main tool in DRIFT to express emotion. There is little language, little interaction. Only the simple silhouette of a man. I believe that with this approach, it feels as if we go back to basics, as if cinema reveals an old magic long forgotten.’ (Benny Vandendriessche)

Benny Vandendriessche

Through the years, BENNY VANDENDRIESSCHE has developed an interest in creating strong images through an intuitive approach. He started as a director in television and in publicity, discovering his own identity. Later on, in installations and video clips he explored the power of physical performances. Often he would confront the fiction of a character or a situation with the authenticity of reality. This mixture of fiction and documentary is present in most of his artistic work.

Benny never aimed at pre-constructed results: the “truth” of his images was shaped by the energy and improvisation on set. He wants to make images that he can "let arise". When he met Dirk Hendrikx, he clicked on the idea for a physical film you can experience without knowledge. DRIFT is his first feature film.

Peter Krüger

Peter Krüger is working as an independent writer/director and producer. As a producer he is the general manager of Inti Films. INTI is the ancient Inca-word for sun - and as for life in general, light is quintessential for film.

INTI FILMS is an independent production company which focuses on the production of director-driven feature films and creative documentaries with a trans-national relevance. Inti Films aims at producing films that matter and challenge the viewer.

Since the last two years Inti Films is developing a long term relationship with upcoming young producer Jules Debrock.

Since 1995 the company has build a growing reputation with the production of award-winning and remarkable creative documentaries by directors as Peter Brosens, Peter Krüger, Renzo Martens, Lut Vandekeybus, Marku Lehmuskallio, Peter Hegedus, Manu Riche, Steve Thielemans.

The last years Inti Films has been focussing on the production of feature films, such as ‘Kinshasa-Kids’ by Marc-Henri Wajnberg (shot in Congo, released in Venice 2012), ‘N’ by Peter Krüger (BE/NL/DE, set in West-Africa), ‘Drift’ by Benny Vandendriesche & Dirk Hendrikx (BE/NL).

All of our films have been selected for major festivals, often winning awards and are represented by differents sales agents. Most or our films are international co-productions, financed by public filmfunds and broadcasters and often supported by the EU MEDIA Programme and EURIMAGES.