Amerika: in alle staten
"Amerika: in alle staten" (Flemish for "America: In All States") was a short film created in 1978 and aired as part of the "Inspraak" (Flemish for "participate in conversation" or "have a say") segment of the late night television program "Tienerklanken" ("Teen Sounds") broadcast by Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) in Belgium and addressed to young Flemish-speaking audiences.
In 1978 Kris Leysen (died 2014) came to Birmingham for a couple of weeks to report on the experiences of students residing in the city as part of their participation in foreign exchange programs coordinated by AFS-USA. As context for the interviews, Leysen shot footage in and around the city.
According to a story Leysen often shared, on his first evening in the city he was pulled over by a sheriff's deputy. After explaining why he was carrying a film crew around, the deputy offered to swear him in as a temporary deputy, giving him a card he could present to let people know he was on "official business". After returning home to Belgium, Leysen would continue to boast jokingly about being "deputy sheriff of Birmingham, Alabama."
One of the people Leysen interviewed in depth, Steve Wideman, was then a student worker in the UAB Department of Psychology, and a waiter at the Cork 'N Cleaver on Valley Avenue, who had spent a year in Belgium as a foreign exchange student. Some of the visiting students Wideman met in Birmingham included Bruno Ronsmans of Belgium, Silvana Almeida from Brazil, Nilgun Tosun from Turkey, Tone R. from Norway and a student from France.
Leysen looked closely at how residents of Mountain Brook distinguished themselves from the rest of Birmingham with expensive homes on large tree-filled lawns, private golf courses, and a separate school system. He noted the claim that Birmingham was one of the safest cities in America, but contrasted that with observations about where white and Black people were afraid to go. He discussed some of these issues with the exchange students and sought their opinions on American society and its prospects.
After Leysen's death, his daughter Fien determined to visit the city and try to recreate current scenes from some of the same locations as part of a production with musician Steven De bruyn for the documentary filmmaking group "Berlin". The new production, entitled "Alabama", is set to premier on February 1, 2024 as part of a live performance with Fien Leysen at the Arsenaal/Lazarus theater in Mechelen.
References
- Taylor, Drew (March 7, 2023) "In 1978, her father traveled from Belgium to Alabama to film a documentary. Now, Fien Leysen is coming to see what he saw." CBS42.com