Héritage

In Héritage, Cédric Eeckhout brings together Jo Libertiaux, his mother, born in 1945. Free and independent, Jo built herself up alone in a world dominated by men. In her, Cédric sees a fighter. Driven by a profound love for life, Jo tells her story, while her son reinvents and stages it, exploring themes such as female emancipation and economic, social, and political history. Their voices intertwine: that of a divorced woman, mother of four children, who balanced work as a hairdresser with raising a family and who, now retired, became an actress; and that of her actor son, who identifies as queer and questions heritage, masculinity, and machismo. Between intimacy, emotion, and humor, mother and son explore the legacy passed from one generation to the next in a time marked by successive crises — climate, pandemic, political, and social — but also by persistent forms of racism and sexism. Still, it is in the cracks of a world shaped by colonial and patriarchal traditions that new possibilities emerge. Among fragile, marginal, or little-heard voices, hope for a different future arises. The presentation of this project was made possible thanks to the PROSPERO NEW platform, co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.