TV series “1985” and the movie “Wil” were the big winners at the Ensors in Ostend on Saturday. The Ensors are the Flemish film and TV prizes that are awarded at the Ostend film festival.
Saturday was a red-letter day for the Flemish audiovisual industry with the Gala of the Ensors at Ostend Kursaal. It was no surprise that “1985”, a TV series on the events surrounding the murderous raids of the Nivelles Gang on Belgian supermarkets in the 80s, picked up many of the prizes. Wouter Bouvijn’s VRT TV series won best fictional drama as well as best actor for Aimé Claeys and best supporting actor for Tom Vermeir, best director for Wouter Bouvijn and best script for Willem Wallyn.
Box office hit “Wil”, a movie directed by Tim Mielants, after a novel by Jeroen Olyslaegers, about collaboration and resistance in the police service during the war won seven film category prizes including best director for Tim Mielants and best script for Carl Joos, best actor for Stef Aerts and best supporting actor for Jan Bijvoet.
Two years ago the Ensors became gender-neutral meaning there is only one award for best actor and not a separate award for best actress. All four actors’ awards went to men fuelling criticism of the system. Nominations were equally balanced, but on the night all acting awards went to men.