BETWEEN BROTHERS

Press Screening: tba
World Premiere: tba
Screenings: tba

Director Tom Fassaert is available for interviews.

BETWEEN BROTHERS (Tussen Broers) by writer-director Tom Fassaert (A Family Affair) is world premiering at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026 in the Limelight section. With warmth and gentle humor, the deeply personal documentary reflects on family, memory, and the ways the past shapes the present.

After the death of their mother, two elderly brothers – closely bonded despite a complicated past – set out on a journey into their shared history. Accompanied by their son and nephew, filmmaker Tom Fassaert, they embark on a road trip in search of their father, who left no trace behind. The journey unfolds with quiet curiosity and playful intimacy. Through genuine conversations and moments at once tender and humorous, the film examines how his absence shaped the family, while subtly questioning whether the past inevitably repeats itself.

SYNOPSIS
Elderly brothers René and Rob can’t do with or without each other. René lives the life of a recluse, in a house that is overflowing with stuff. When things threaten to get out of hand, his younger brother Rob intervenes. Filmmaker Tom Fassaert, Rob’s son, documents these weekly visits and recognizes a familiar dynamic. Rob, a retired psychologist, slips into the role of counsellor; René, a longtime psychiatric patient, becomes his client. Their underlying irritation is genuine, but so is their affection. As Rob and René repeat the same ritual every week, Tom begins to sense that something must be behind it. Something old and unspoken.

Tom Fassaert (1979) spent his childhood in both The Netherlands and South Africa. These contrasting environments have undoubtably shaped the way he looks at the world. But his love of film stems from his father’s passion for home movies. Common thread in his films is intimacy between himself and his subject. Through this intimacy, he investigates themes like bonding, intergenerational trauma and the desire for autonomy. Gently, he observes both the tragedy and the absurd wrapped inside a recalcitrant reality. His debut film, An Angel in Doel, premiered at the Berlinale in 2011, where it received world-wide attention. His second, A Family Affair, opened IDFA 2015. It won the Special Jury Award and was nominated for a European Film Award. Variety mentioned Fassaert as ‘One of the ten documentary makers to watch’.

BETWEEN BROTHERS is an Een van de jongens production in coproduction with Clin d’oeil films, KRO-NCRV, VRT, Shelter Prod and was made with support from the Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, NPO Fund, CoBO, Cultuurfonds Almere, Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Taxshelter.be & ING and the tax shelter of the Belgian federal government.

Production Company:
Een van de jongens
Noa Defesche
noa@eenvandejongens.nl
+31 6 13041999

World Sales:
tba

106 min. / Netherlands, Belgium 2026 / documentary

©/CREDITS:

Stills: © Mick van Dantzig / Een van de jongens / KRO-NCRV