An older man in a beret and scarf in front of a stone tower with dragon figures on its battlements — ▶ Excerpt · 2′27″

198716 minVideo essay

Entre deux tours

Name: Entre deux tours
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1987
Duration: 16 min

Between Two Towers

Two towers stand a few kilometres apart near the Belgian-Dutch border. At Brunssum is AFCENT, NATO's command for Central Europe since 1967, which took over Charlemagne's arms and motto; its spokesman is Ed Frieser. At Eben-Emael stands the Eben-Ezer tower, foretold by the prophet Hermas, whose builder Garcet preaches a mystical pacifism: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.” A written monologue sets the two towers face to face, though neither hears the other.

Press

“For Rob Rombout, documentary is not mere recording, and its aim is not objectivity alone. He joins something given by reality to a personal feeling.”

‘Voor Rob Rombout is de dokumentaire niet enkel maar registratie, het einddoel is niet alleen maar objektiviteit. Hij verbindt een gegeven uit de realiteit met een persoonlijk gevoel.’

Raf Custers, De Standaard, 1988 · Our translation.

“a dialogue (of the deaf) between two towers”

«um diálogo (de surdos) entre duas torres»

Cinemateca Portuguesa, 2025 · Our translation.

1987Deux petites tours et puis s’en vontLa Wallonie · PDF ↗
1987Entre deux toursM.-C. R., La Cité · PDF ↗
1988Torens van oorlog en vredeRaf Custers, De Standaard · PDF ↗
2022An allegoryMarc-Emmanuel Mélon, The Mise en Scène of the Real, Yellow Now, provisional translation · PDF ↗

Photographs

Close-up of hands drawing with a marker on the screen of a small Sony monitor that shows a woman's face — 1987

A young woman in a long coat and striped scarf, eyes closed, bare branches and a dry-stone wall behind her — 1987Belgium, Eben-Emael, garden of the Eben-Ezer tower, Jessie Elmido

A film crew in a car park, a camera on a dolly on rails and a boom microphone, facing a man in a light trench coat with a moustache — 1987Netherlands, Brunssum, AFCENT headquarters, spokesman Ed Frieser

A film crew with a Betacam camera and a boom microphone looking up at a man in a trench coat standing on a brick wall — 1987Netherlands, Brunssum, AFCENT headquarters, spokesman Ed Frieser

In a garden of tall stones and bare trees, a crew member adjusts something on a man holding a bird of prey, two women standing by — 1987Belgium, Eben-Emael, garden of the Eben-Ezer tower, Jessie Elmido

A woman reaches up to a hawk on the gloved hand of a man in sunglasses, a cameraman with a Betacam camera behind them — 1987Belgium, Eben-Emael, garden of the Eben-Ezer tower, Jessie Elmido

A stone tower crowned with winged figures behind a hedge, a ploughed field, and a woman walking away along a grassy path in the mist — 1987Belgium, Eben-Emael, the Eben-Ezer tower, Adriana Moreira de Oliveira

Technical sheet

Title: Entre deux tours
Year: 1987
Runtime: 16 min
Countries: Belgium
Languages: French
Production: GSARA, with Wallonie Image Production and RTBF
Availability: Remastered 2025 · on request
Versions: 16′, as in the credits published in Mélon 2022 (p. 60) and in the 2025 remaster. Some older lists give 52′.

Script and direction: Rob Rombout
Monologue: Christian Janssens
Image: Kommer Klein
Sound: Fabio Lani
Editing: Adriana Moreira de Oliveira
Music: Excuse my French

Prizes

1988Best video, Festival Vidéo, Liège
1988First prize, Festival Vidéo & Super 8, Brussels
1988Grand prize, Festival de Montbéliard