Belgian filmmaker Luka Galle and lead actor Emil Leysen will take part in a special Q&A for the Oscar-qualified short The Catcher, moderated by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Vincent Lambe.
The conversation comes as The Catcher continues its awards campaign following an acclaimed international festival run that has earned the Belgian short 14 awards across 24 festival appearances.
Written, produced and directed by Galle, The Catcher transforms a surreal premise involving invisible birds into an emotionally grounded exploration of loneliness, connection and the universal desire to be seen.
The film follows Robin, played by Emil Leysen, a lonely young man employed by the government to catch invisible birds. When Robin begins to form an unexpected attachment to the creatures he has been ordered to capture, he makes a dangerous decision that challenges both his responsibilities and the isolated existence he has accepted.
For Galle, the film’s fantastical world became a way of examining something profoundly human: what happens when someone feels invisible within society.
Rather than presenting its unusual central idea purely as fantasy, The Catcher gradually reveals the invisible birds as a reflection of Robin himself. He discovers companionship in creatures that others cannot see, while quietly longing for someone to recognise him in the same way.
The Q&A will bring together Galle and Leysen to discuss the creation of that world, Robin’s emotional journey and how the actor and filmmaker approached telling an intimate story within an ambitious fantasy setting.
Moderating the discussion is Vincent Lambe, the Irish filmmaker whose short Detainment received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.
For Galle, The Catcher represents his first major move into narrative fiction after building a career across music videos, cinematography and commercial filmmaking.
He studied audiovisual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bruges before initially stepping away from filmmaking. His passion for cinema returned during the pandemic, leading him to establish production company LUKASCOPE.
Since 2020, Galle has directed and photographed more than 25 music videos while working across commercial productions as a cinematographer, editor and director.
With The Catcher, he assumed multiple creative roles, writing, directing and producing the film while developing a distinctive visual language around a world in which something completely invisible can nevertheless feel entirely real.
The film’s festival success has helped propel it into the international awards conversation.
It received the Golden Hypatia Award for Best International Fiction Film at the Alexandria International Short Film Festival in Egypt, securing its qualification for consideration at the Academy Awards.
Additional honours include Best Cinematography at Brussels Short Film Festival, Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film at Beeston Film Festival, and Best Short Film, Best Director and Best Actor at Lytham International Film Festival.
Leysen leads the cast as Robin alongside Belgian actress Mieke De Groote, Kris Cuppens and Damla Cengiz.
Cinematographer and co-producer Gilles Mosar received the Best Cinematography prize at Brussels Short Film Festival for his work on the film, while its score was composed by award-winning Belgian composer Ruben De Gheselle.
The film has also travelled internationally, including a selection at Spain’s Sitges Film Festival in its Noves Visions Petit section.
Its increasingly global reception is striking given how personal its central theme remains.
At its heart, The Catcher is about a person searching for proof that he matters. Robin may inhabit a world of invisible creatures and mysterious government assignments, but the emotion driving the film is instantly recognisable: the need to connect with another living being and the fear of passing through life unnoticed.
Following the short, Galle is continuing his transition into narrative filmmaking and has already written a feature-length project inspired by the world of The Catcher, alongside developing additional film work.
As the Oscar-qualified short continues its awards campaign, the conversation moderated by Lambe will offer audiences a closer look at how Galle and Leysen turned an imaginative concept into a story about something far more universal.
The Catcher is currently in consideration in the Best Live Action Short Film category for the 99th Academy Awards.
