Kris De Meester - bio
Kris De Meester is a director, producer, casting director, curator and entrepreneur. He started his career in 1990, taking on different roles with many of the film industry’s finest. Over the decades, he has teamed up with numerous award-winning directors. Such including Lars von Trier, Terence Davies, Thomas Vinterberg, Timo Vuorensola, Wolfgang Becker, Philippe Grandrieux, and Koen Mortier.
With a genuine conviction that environments can affect human behavior, the cinema producer translated his theory into the writing of two feature films. His quirky direction in both put him in the limelight and accelerated his reputation on the global film scene. The 2010 black and white film “Four Roses” is one of his most pure works. The movie was shot in four days with a budget of USD 10,000. The award-winning feature was hailed an engaging and poignant gem and was officially selected for international film festivals around the globe. His second feature “Johnny Walker” is inspired by Dostoevsky’s ‘Notes from the Underground’. Described by some critics as a surprising and unique experience, the 2015 film intended to ignite the audience’s intuition with the play of confusion and contradiction. The film was selected for over 30 international film festivals.
At the same time, the director also took on roles as a casting director in a number of films. His repertoire includes titles such as "A Quiet Passion", "Ex Drummer", "Ich und Kaminski" and "Un Lac". He was also the casting director for "Nymphomaniac" Volumes I & II, both of which have been featured on Netflix. Meanwhile, as a producer, Kris De Meester has worked on dozens of award-winning independent films to date. Such include "Little Wing", "Vessels", "Share with me Your Brightest Colors", "Menthol", and "All About the Feathers". In recent years, he joined Hal Hartley as an executive producer in the production of the feature film “Where to Land” that has yet to be released.
With time, the director and producer’s acclaimed reputation and deep understanding of cinema steered him to become a film curator in the vibrant film festival landscape. Since 2015, kris De Meester has taken part as a global curator in many mainstay events such as the Brussels Independent Film Festival, the Venice Film Week, the Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, Super Shorts London Film Festival, and the Sydney World Film Festival.