BRUSSELS - First and foremost, Under the Surface is a portrait of Anneke, a young woman of 33 with ASD who wants to live an independent life and escapes into a fantasy world.
The documentary oscillates between different genres and cannot immediately be pigeonholed. It is not a true investigative journalism film, yet it involved quite a bit of research. Anneke is visually impaired due to a premature birth. During filming, Guido Verelst discovered that Anneke was born prematurely because her grandmother took a drug called DES in the 1960s. It is an artificial hormone that was prescribed to pregnant women against miscarriages (the grandmother had already had three miscarriages). This drug had the opposite effect: premature births, miscarriages, rare cancers and deformities to the children's sex organs. Worldwide, there are more than 10 million DES victims. The drug has since been withdrawn from the market, but in Belgium there is still no recognition of the victims.
Verelst dived into the VRT and Rtbf archives to find out more about this issue, and came into contact with the Belgian non-profit organisation ‘Des In Belgium’ (DIB), which tries to help victims of the DES hormone. He also had information from his first source: Anneke's grandmother, who was still living independently at home during the filming and who explained to me how she was prescribed the hormone to prevent further miscarriages. With dire consequences.
DES could have been the main theme of the film, but it is not. However, DES did help determine who Anneke is and therefore it is a not insignificant part of the documentary. Under The Surface is a portrait of a young woman who has drawn a bad card and wants to make the best of life in her own way.
DOCUMENTARY
- Under the Surface (Premiere), DOCville Leuven, 23/03/2024.
- Under the Surface, Belgian Theaters, 23/10/2024.
PRESS
- Hoe een zeemeerminnenstaart alle beperkingen doet wegvallen, De Tijd, 21/10/2024.
- Ode aan de nicht die droomt van een leven als zeemeermin, De Morgen, 22/10/2024.
