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Lieven Corthouts

Lieven Corthouts

Directing

Biography

Lieven Corthouts is a self-taught filmmaker who travelled the world before living in Ethiopia for 10 years. There he made 2 feature documentaries: ‘My Future’ and ‘Little Heaven’. My Future (2009, 50’) won the prize Best Debut at Miradasdoc. Little Heaven (2011, 70’) premiered at IDFA, was sold by Taskovski and obtained the Bertha Britdoc Connect Fund. In 2016 he made the film The Invisible City [Kakuma] (2016, 70’), a coproduction with Canvas, that was selected for the Good Pitch 2016 and aimed at humanising the migration debate. Inspired by the film, Lieven created Find Me in Kakuma (2017), the first interactive doc that is funded by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF). Together with academy award winning director Orlando von Einsiedel he made the Netflix documentary Convergence: Courage in a Crisis (2021, 113’) Lieven Corthouts’s films were broadcast by ARTE, RAI, TV3, VRT, TV5, ZDF, Lichtpunt, RSI, Israeli Channel, TVI24.

Known For

The Invisible City: Kakuma

How to build a home in a place called nowhere? Kakuma refugee camp, built in the middle of the Turkana desert (Kenya), is the fastest growing city in the region. Many of its new arrivals are children sent out of conflict zones by their parents. Against all odds, these children grab all opportunities in the camp to rebuild their life. While waiting for her mother to return from South Sudan, Nyakong (8) starts to go to school. Slowly she creates a new home in the camp. At the age of 17, teenagers like Claude and Khadijo consequently compete for international scholarships, get a job, even build their own house. Filmmaker Lieven Corthouts decided to stay in one of the toughest places on earth and make this camp his home. While filming his friends for more than 4 years, he unveils the accomplishments of these strong, smart children and the true dynamics of a refugee camp. Can Kakuma really offer a future? Or is it just a waiting room, where the only option is to plan your journey to Europe?

The Invisible City: Kakuma

2016Movie