-Who is Henk Pringels?
I studied languages and theatre sciences at the Gent University in Flanders. I was a theatre critic for the Belgian Broadcasting Company for some years, before I started writing theatre plays myself. In the meantime, I continued doing what I had been doing since I first saw the daylight: drawing (and painting). In another meantime, I started my ‘singing career’; educated as a classic singer, I sang with a lot of ensembles in Belgium. Some time ago I added my fascination for jazz and close harmony singing (with my band “The Great Petenders”, haha).
So, drawing, painting, singing, theatre. And apart from that: dancing tango, traveling, italophily…
-What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
Some years ago, I met a woman who had just finished a short animated clip. I was preparing – as a theatre director – the scenography for a music theatre production and I had been thinking of using an animation film for that purpose. The woman somehow introduced me in the wonderful world of animation. Then came Covid. Just before the premiere of an opera production, the world locked down. Everything went silent. I took my pencils and started drawing. I followed animation classes in an academy in Gent (when sanity regulations permitted so). My purpose was to make an animated short film and I estimated that 3 minutes would be a nice goal… ‘Fortunately’, the lockdown period was extended, and so were my goals with this film.
“Cinema is (still) very much a social activity. People like to spend a night in those (comfy red) seats, together with all the other spectators. And when they leave the venue, they gather in the streets or in a café to discuss the principal items of what they have just seen, they wonder at the performances of the actors, they question the director’s interventions, the beauty of the scenery, the wonderful music, the costumes, the stunts, the jokes, the horrible scenes… and they imagine making a film themselves, maybe by making a lot of drawings and mounting them to create something awesome? Will cinema in this form survive? Of course, techniques to make films will change/improve. Maybe, within a few decades, man will be able to upload films to his brain directly and project them to a virtual screen… But man will look for ways to share the emotions caused by cinematic beauty. That’s what I hope, at least.” is in an way an animated (theatre) play. I think animation is really a very strong medium of (artistic) suggestion, not in the least because – apart from the technical aspect – there are no boundaries to the imagination. Therefore, it serves the poetic mind…
And what is more inspiring than to see a line – drawn with a simple pencil – develop into a moving and ‘living’ creature?
-Do you think the cinema can bring a change in society?
Good, but difficult question. But I think it can. Maybe it should. It’s an old question in the field of arts: should arts be ‘political’? Mere illustration or socially driven comment, or both? Personally, world affairs do have a direct impact on my life, my thinking, and yes, on what I create. I sometimes feel very deeply touched by what happens to our globe. Lately, I have been thinking that at the centre of (artistic) creation, there’s a need to create an alternative universe by the process of decomposing and recomposing the world. Or inventing other worlds, for that matter. Which makes that art, intrinsically, is some sort of a political statement. And a possible game changer?
-What would you change in the world?
“Man in a Can” deals – amongst other aspects – with our human needs. We all realize that needs and their fulfillment can be extremely different, depending on which ‘corner’ of this globe we find ourselves in. This is not a new issue, of course, but it has probably never been as acute as it is now. Our needs have brought humankind to the verge… (going for a war is an ultimate expression of a need, also). With “Man in a Can” I definitely wanted to present – directly and indirectly – some ‘hot’ aspects of our (current) problematical human condition. And of course, I would like to see our world change for the better. Some critics believe that our condition is not as bad as we sometimes like to claim/pretend. We just so much like to be informed of whatever is happening, even at the outskirts of this globe. In this way, film and cinema are part of this chain of (over)communication. On the other hand, the worldwide spreading of (artistic) beauty and elegance can hardly be looked upon as redundant, can it?
– Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?
Cinema is (still) very much a social activity. People like to spend a night in those (comfy red) seats, together with all the other spectators. And when they leave the venue, they gather in the streets or in a café to discuss the principal items of what they have just seen, they wonder at the performances of the actors, they question the director’s interventions, the beauty of the scenery, the wonderful music, the costumes, the stunts, the jokes, the horrible scenes… and they imagine making a film themselves, maybe by making a lot of drawings and mounting them to create something awesome? Will cinema in this form survive? Of course, techniques to make films will change/improve. Maybe, within a few decades, man will be able to upload films to his brain directly and project them to a virtual screen… But man will look for ways to share the emotions caused by cinematic beauty. That’s what I hope, at least.
