The up-and-coming director’s Flo Van Deuren and Kato De Boeck made a remarkable debut in the Belgian television world. The multitalented duo recently cowrote and directed the critically acclaimed TV series Roomies, which tells the tale of two lesbian friends, Bibi and Ama, who in their 20s, move in together in an apartment in Brussels in the hope they each become a better version of themselves.

Van Deuren en De Boeck also met each other in Brussels, while studying at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound (RITCS). Thanks to their promising graduation short movies, both Van Deuren en De Boeck garnered national and international attention, which got their ball rolling almost immediately.

In 2018, Van Deuren presented her first short graduation movie Bamboe, which she wrote and directed at the prestigious RITCS film school. The movie was an instant audience pleaser and in 2019 Bamboe ended up being selected in the student competition category during the 72th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. In Bamboe, Van Deurne combined her passion for dance and storytelling, since she had also worked as a foley artist.

Filmmaker Kato De Boeck also graduated in 2018 from the RITCS. Sure enough, De Boeck’s short movie Provence not only held its world premiere at the Palm Springs International film festival in California, the movie also ended up being selected in over 50 international film festivals, winning countless awards in Belgium and abroad. The successful journey of Provence even obtained a spot on the longlist of the Academy Awards.

In 2020, during lockdown, Flo Van Deuren and Kato De Boeck decided to join forces. They formed a creative duo named “Floko Films.” During the pandemic, they shot their first short together called Echo, which was part of a Belgian TV series named Lockdown. In 2021 they started to develop the LGBTQ+ television series Roomies in partnership with the Belgian production company De Wereldvrede. At Film Fest Ghent 2022, where Roomies was launched, both directors (who themselves are lesbians) shared with the audience that they wanted to show that there is more than one way of being queer. Though the two principal leads are cast as lesbian, they opted for the series to really focus on their friendship, their love relationship and the everyday things in life. They also expressed that they got a lot of creative material and experiences for their storyline, from the time they were living together during their last year at school.

The series became a huge hit in Belgium. Earlier this year at the Ensor Awards (Flanders’ biggest film and TV award show), the duo shined brightly. Under the television category Roomies became the biggest winner of the night. The show received an Ensor for Best Fiction, Best Scenario (for a fiction series), Best Directing (for a fiction series) and Best Music.

The duo of Floko Films keeps working together and they are vastly expanding. The twosome hopes to keep writing stories for film and television, as well as directing. Though Van Deuren and De Boeck prefer to both stand behind the directors monitor, each has their own individual strength and talent. Thus far, their stories are sensitive, realistic and character driven. The sky is the limit for this powerful female duo, who are only just getting started.