Sébastien Willem
Director
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Cinematographer
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Writer
Films
HOMO SAPIENS
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2020
SYNOPSIS
Embark on a trip to a zoo in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. When health standards dehumanize individuals, the boundaries between animals and humans blur.
ENTRE CHIEN ET LOUP
•
2021
SYNOPSIS
End of October 2019: a group of militants settled in the heart of a forest in the Ardennes. Their target is to defend the site from economic activities of Idelux, which will build in that territory. A new protected area was born. …
PILOU
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2023
SYNOPSIS
A portrait of my lovely 90 years old grandma, and Pilou.
SIM À VIDA
•
2023
SYNOPSIS
Aida is a farmer who raise cows in a little village of the north of Portugal. This peaceful way of life will be threaten by a project of an open-sky mine near her village. Confronting Aida to the potential destruction of her land.
FIRST STEPS
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2025
SYNOPSIS
After a nearly fatal accident, Nikki, a ballerina for the Hungarian national ballet comes face to face with herself in a daily battle to dance again.
EVERY GRAIN OF SAND
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2025
SYNOPSIS
In the Hungarian countryside, a region called Homokhátság, desertification is gradually overtaking the land, driven by climate change. The film unfolds as a mosaic of those who remain, guided by the voice of a man born in this territory. …
SMOKING AREA
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2025
SYNOPSIS
In a weathered corner of Ostend’s industrial zone, migrant workers gather for their daily cigarette break, where shared smoke and quiet conversations reveal the poetry in their hard-worn lives.
LE CYCLE NOIR
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2025
SYNOPSIS
Coal mining once plunged an entire region of Belgium into an era of prosperity. Observing these vestiges from a silent present, the film questions less our memory than our relationship to progress: what we inherit, what we reproduce, and what we refuse to see. …
TODOS MARES NA MESMA COSTA
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2026
SYNOPSIS
The film takes us on an odyssey along the northern coast of Portugal, one of the most vulnerable areas in Europe impacted by the coastal erosion, a slow and inexorable process of advance of the sea. …
A BOCCA CHIUSA
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2025
SYNOPSIS
A director decides to tell the story of Olivia, but what begins as a simple portrait soon turns into an intertwining of voices, memories, and conflicting versions. Each encounter opens new perspectives, revealing fragments of truth that do not always coincide. …
Photography
About me
I’m Sébastien, a documentary director and cinematographer from Belgium — Currently somewhere between two places.
Traveling is not just a habit, but a way for me to encounter stories across borders and reveal what makes them universal.
As a DocNomads alumnus — a Master’s degree in Documentary Directing, I have lived and worked in Lisbon, Budapest, and Brussels. My documentaries explore environmental issues through a human lens, favoring a minimalistic visual language and an atmosphere-driven approach.
My work aims to shed light on inspiring lives while revealing the quiet irony of a world slowly unraveling by its own design.
My films have been screened at festivals such as Festival dei Popoli (Florence), SilverFrame Film Festival (Bosnia), Gent Film Festival (Belgium), and the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, as part of the LagunaFilmLab artist residency.
If you’d like to watch my work or collaborate, feel free to send me an email — I might already be heading your way.