Belgian Writer-Director Wouter Bouvijn is only 35 years old and already has three international laureated television series under his belt. Last April, his newest work 1985 premiered at the prestigious CanneSeries 2022.

Bouvijn, who was born in Deinze resides in the beautiful city of Ghent. In 2013 he graduated summa cumme Laude at the Belgian film school RITS. His final thesis Crossroad (Tweesprong) not only won several prestigious awards in his home country, but the short film also received a nomination for the Student Oscars. The then 23-year-old rising young talent flew to Hollywood and was stunned when he took home the Student Academy Award for his debut short film. “Looking back at that moment is surreal, I had the opportunity to meet so many living legends,” says Bouvijn.

One of Belgium’s biggest production houses Eyeworks took notice and asked Bouvijn to direct a new fiction television series called The Twelve. A tale about a twelve-person jury, each with its own set of problems, which will decide the fate of a school principal who is being tried in court on suspicion of having murdered her best friend and daughter.

“I was working on developing a film when I got the call,” explains Bouvijn. “I agreed to take the opportunity only if I could sit solo in the director’s chair, for I do believe to direct an entire series, I can make a strong difference in quality and oneness.”

His unique talent shines through in this work.

“I truly enjoyed directing The Twelve but at the same time I’m always very insecure at work,” he admits. Once production wrapped in 2019, the series was chosen to participate at the CanneSeries Festival, where the director and cast took to the stage. “I was delighted when we got selected. I was on cloud nine when our series won and got awarded Best Screenplay at the festival.” Before the first episode aired, The Twelve was sold worldwide to numerous platforms in different countries, including Netflix.

Up next for the director came Red Light, a TV series about three women with very distinctive backgrounds, whose lives become intertwined. Sylvia, a sex worker, works in a brothel with her boyfriend/pimp, Esther a well-known soprano from a wealthy background, and Evi, a passionate policewoman who tries to combine running a big business with her family life. Together, they end up in the dangerous and intriguing world of human trafficking, prostitution, and corruption in Antwerp and Amsterdam.

Red Light turned out a to be a big success and got presented during the third edition of the CanneSeries festival where it won the Special Performance Award for the acting by leading actors Carice van Houten (Games of Thrones), Halina Reijn (Instinct) and Maaike Neuville (The Twelve). It also won the Student Jury Prize.

Most recently, in April of this year, Wouter Bouvijn was all smiles once again, when he returned with his cast to the south of France, attending the 1985 photocall during the 5^th CanneSeries Fest.

is a tale created by Willem Wallyn (Albatros) set in the 1980s and tells a true story about De Bende Van Nijvel, also known as the Brabant Killers, an organized crime gang who spread terror in Belgium.

“This is a universal coming-of-age story of three young people against the background of the Brabant massacres In Belgium,” said Bouvijn in Cannes. The last and bloodiest attack made by the Brabant Killers took place at a supermarket warehouse on November 9, 1985. What sets the Brabant Killings apart from crimes in other European countries is that they were never solved. Bouvijn focused on the turbulent profound period of the 80s and shared with Cinevox that he aimed to cinematically portray the depth of each character and storyline in the hope of touching and bringing awareness to a diverse group of people, especially younger audiences.

A director known to work closely with his cast and crew, Bouvijn has a keen and talented cinematic eye. “It’s very important to me not to lose the filmic quality. Image, sound, and a good storyline are of key importance to me when filming a TV series even when the tempo of filming is.”

Despite his success in television, cinema is still Bouvijns first love, so it would come as no surprise for this promising young director to soon be writing and directing his first full-length feature film.