Flaxman
Director Jan Lapeire
Countries Belgium
Duration 72 min
Synopsis
Two old brothers, living in post-industrial Flanders, are trying to get rich growing flax. They are hard and hardworking men. The brothers, both in their seventies, have worked since their youth at the family’s flax mill . Flax is their life. Flax cultivation was crucial to the development of this region and it shaped their identity. Indifferent to the changing times, the brothers stick to the inexorable routine of working seven days a week. But today, the flax men are confronted with the macroeconomic laws that govern their industry as well: modernisation and globalisation. And there are more clouds on the horizon. In the past, the brothers always pretended to be deaf to the subject of environmental licences. But those days are gone. The local authorities want to shut down the flax mill. Their habitat is in danger of being destroyed. Now everything is going to change. Will the flax men adapt or disappear?
Two old brothers, living in post-industrial Flanders, are trying to get rich growing flax. They are hard and hardworking men. The brothers, both in their seventies, have worked since their youth at the family’s flax mill . Flax is their life. Flax cultivation was crucial to the development of this region and it shaped their identity. Indifferent to the changing times, the brothers stick to the inexorable routine of working seven days a week. But today, the flax men are confronted with the macroeconomic laws that govern their industry as well: modernisation and globalisation. And there are more clouds on the horizon. In the past, the brothers always pretended to be deaf to the subject of environmental licences. But those days are gone. The local authorities want to shut down the flax mill. Their habitat is in danger of being destroyed. Now everything is going to change. Will the flax men adapt or disappear?