La Fête

December 2018: Tidjane Pokou, a Belgian-Senegalese
medical student, dies following an initiation ritual carried
out by an elite student club named ‘TussenOns’.

May 2023: after a highly publicized trial, the court
sentences the eighteen club members responsible for
Tidjane’s death to very light penalties.

The story takes place two years after the trial. Sophie Van
Wezembeek, an art collector and heiress to a prominent
French-speaking family, and Lucien Van Wezembeek,
an engineer from Antwerp, are the parents of Laurent
and Olivier—both members of TussenOns and among
those indicted.Laurent, the former head of the initiation
ritual, now lives in South Africa where he teaches law at
the University of Cape Town. Olivier remains in Belgium,
struggling to complete his history thesis. Deeply haunted
by his responsibility in Tidjane’s death, he attempted
suicide one year after the trial. Since then, he has
considered joining a religious order. Following her son’s
suicide attempt, Sophie gave a statement to the press
describing his distress and her own need for reconciliation
with the Pokou family. This statement followed several
attempts on Sophie’s part to meet Tidjane’s father,
Moussa Pokou, and obtain his forgiveness.

The story begins on October 17, 2026 - St. Baudouin’s
Day, now a national holiday in Belgium. Moussa Pokou
has decided to accept the invitation extended by
Sophie Van Wezembeek. The meeting is to take place in
the Van Wezembeek family’s coastal home. Moussa is
accompanied by Tidjane’s twin sister, Adia, by his adoptive
son, Malik Devrese, and by Jeanne, a journalist who has
been following him for several months. In fact, it is Jeanne
who orchestrated this encounter. Together, they are
determined to get answers to the many questions that
continue to haunt Moussa.

As they await Laurent’s arrival from South Africa, the
evening begins to shift. What was intended as an attempt
at reconciliation gradually turns into a ritual in which each
person becomes, in turn, a witness, a victim, and an agent
of a story that demands to be replayed.