4 Movies Directed by Stijn Coninx

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In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

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Due to a mistake Placide Smellekens appears, hanging in a lamp post, on an advertising poster for fur coats. After a while everyone wants to wear Placide's clothes in stead of the fur. Therefore, Germaine wants him to become a mannequin and work for her. As mannequin he meets Sarah. He wants to chat her up, because Placide's father said him at his deathbed that he would come and haunt if Placide wouldn't find a girl soon. Sarah gives Placide his nickname: Koko Flanel.

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Soeur Sourire is a moving story based on the life of a fascinating historic figure, Jeannine, a young Belgian girl who joined the convent and became a star in 1961 when she composed and sang the hit Dominique, nique, nique... The tragedy experienced by this young woman, who adopted the stage name Soeur Sourire, has everything to do with love. Jeannine Deckers desperately tries to give others the love she never received from her hard-hearted mother. She becomes attached to Annie, but when the latter tries to get closer, she runs. She dreams of moving away to far places, to Africa. When the situation at home becomes unbearable, she feels that joining a convent is the only way out. Life in the convent is hard for the young, passionate woman, but also gives her moments of joy she had never had before. She composes Dominique and is used by the church in an attempt to rejuvenate its waning image. The song becomes a hit all over the world.

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Salvatore Granata is a rather poor man who lives with his wife, son and daughter in Calabria in Italy. One day Salvatore decides to move to Belgium to work in the coal mine of Waterschei as a "gastarbeider," an immigrant worker. His family will stay in Italy as Salvatore will only be in Belgium for three years. He hopes to earn much money in a rather small time frame so he can buy a forge for his son Rocco who is now still a 9 year old boy. After a year, Salvatore decides his family should be with him, so they also move to Belgium. They soon discover the life of a "gastarbeider" is difficult: they have to live in some kind of barracks, they are neglected by the Belgian people and they do not earn much. They are astonished when they hear Salvatore signed a contract of five years and children of "gastarbeiders" ought to work in the mines as soon they leave high school. Rocco meets Helena, the daughter of the local grocer. However, the man is a racist and forbids his daughter to play with Italian boys.