Mariska Beckers
Creative Director
Producer
Mariska Beckers graduated from the RITCS (Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound) in Brussels in 2016 as a documentary director. For her graduation project, she directed THE UNWANTED INHERITANCE, a film that highlights the courage and strength of people with Huntington’s hereditary and incurable disease. To make this documentary, she filmed for a year in the only nursing home for Huntington’s patients in Flanders.
She also made the short documentary BREAKING THE SILENCE in which a young woman testifies about how she was abused as a child by her stepfather for years. This gripping story is illustrated with macro shots of toy dolls. Commentary by a respected psychiatrist was later added, interpreting the various stages and mechanisms of abuse.
Mariska also shot and edited the documentary WELCOME TO UTOPIA at the reception centre for minor refugees in Steenokkerzeel, a place that had never been filmed before. The film focuses on two Afghan boys who fled the Taliban and what happens to them in Belgium.
Together with Bart Beckers, Mariska worked on FOUL PLAY, a documentary about sexual violence in sport, in which athletes testified openly for the first time. In 2017, this documentary was broadcast by VRT and received a lot of media and parliamentary backlash. And in 2018, they made a short online documentary about the loopholes in the Belgian euthanasia law. From 2019 to 2022, Mariska and Bart worked on the documentary film DYING TO LIVE, about end-of-life care and the choices for euthanasia and palliative sedation in the last phase of life. This film was broadcast by VRT in Belgium and KRO-NCRV and L1 in the Netherlands.
Gripping stories
Our documentaries feature gripping stories about extraordinary people.
Stunning visuals
We aim for beautifully crafted shots. With eye for detail.
Unique perspective
Films with unique access, filmed over a long period of time, to offer an in-depth view.
Bart Beckers graduated in Political Science and has a degree in Creative Film. Early in his career, he held various positions at major newspapers and magazines in Belgium and the Netherlands, as an investigative journalist and editor-in-chief. In 2000, he was asked to join the news department of VRT. While working there, he attended a master class Storytelling in Film and Television in London (short course Birkbeck London).
At VRT, Bart worked as editor-in-chief and reporter/director for the pioneering current affairs programme KOPPEN and made investigative documentaries for the award-winning programme PANORAMA on topics such as privacy, fox hunting, the crisis in the music industry, family dramas and politics. He has also directed several documentaries for VRT’s in-depth channel CANVAS, including portraits of artists including writer ANTHONY HOROWITZ and musician FRANK BOEIJEN, and the documentary series REYNEBAU & ROTTEN, a five-part road movie through Britain with Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten as guide.
In 2007, he started his own indie production company focusing on feature-length documentaries. He directed and produced films such as THE REAL FATHER OF THE PILL (about a Belgian gynaecologist who secretly invented the anti-conception pill), SAVED WITH FAT (about a new and revolutionary method of breast reconstruction for cancer patients), GIVING IT ALL YOU’VE GOT (the rise and breakthrough of rock band Triggerfinger) and FACE OFF (about the world’s most extensive face transplant, filmed over a 4-year period).
From 2019 to 2022, Bart worked with Mariska on the documentary film DYING TO LIVE, a unique insight into end-of-life care, euthanasia and palliative sedation. This film was broadcast by VRT in Belgium and KRO-NCRV and L1 in the Netherlands.
BART BECKERS
