Zéro de conduite

During a harsh winter, a river by the house of two cousins freezes over. In the cold wind, their relationship grows bitter, reaching its limits.

Grands travaux is situated at the Institute Anneessens-Funck, a Dutch-speaking vocational school in the centre of Brussels where young students have come to learn an occupation. The film documents and stages that which gives shape to their lives: the practical assignments and classes at school, football, the ups and downs of their love lives, as well as the ongoing search for housing and employment. Depicting the daily life within the school walls, Grands travaux also aims at sketching an image of Brussels today, placing its youngsters at the very centre.

A man seems to be following a quest that hasn't quite found its purpose. Fragments emerge from his memory as if to escape the call of the shadows.

The film seeks to reveal a porous relationship between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

According to tradition, Petite Neige, a young Inuit, needs to capture a low flying bird in order to pass into the world of grown-ups. On the verge of catching it, she falls into a mysterious crevice belonging to the giant dwarf, an ogre with the power to change his size at will by sneezing.