MEEUWEN STERVEN IN DE HAVEN

(SEAGULLS DIE IN THE HARBOUR)
Rik KUYPERS Roland VERHAVERT Ivo MICHIELS
  • 2026
  • Cannes Classics
  • Restored prints

The Kuypers-Verhavert-Michiels trio (amateur filmmaker, critic, and writer) achieved a sudden artistic breakthrough with Seagulls Die in the Harbor, elevating Flemish cinema with bold style and aesthetic. This bleak urban drama, set to Jack Sels and Max Damasse’s score, follows a tormented man (Julien Schoenaerts) through Antwerp’s port in stark, expressionist black-and-white. Though burdened by literary dialogue and a fragile script, echoes of French poetic realism, its mix of suffocating drama and thriller elements delivers a uniquely powerful vision.
Industrial wastelands, abandoned docks, and grim slums contrast with cold modern architecture, rich in symbolism. The six-week shoot began in May 1955.

Directed by : Rik KUYPERS, Roland VERHAVERT, Ivo MICHIELS
Year of production: 1955
Country: Belgium
Durée : 87 minutes

Credits

Casting

Contacts

Production