Hendrik Willemyns

Hendrik Willemyns (born 21 January 1972, Belgium) is a musician, producer, film and documentary maker, best known for his work with the Belgian band Arsenal.
== Music ==
Arsenal was founded by Hendrik Willemyns and John Roan. The name of their band was derived from a weapon depository located next to their studio in Brussels.
Their first EP was released on Wally’s Groove World in 1999 and later on Ibiza’s Café del Mar-label. Their second release, ‘A Volta’, is featured on the final episode of the final season of HBO’s Six Feet Under.
Since then, Arsenal has released 6 studio albums, each one featuring collaborations with international vocalists, such as Grant Hart, Johnny Whitney, Aaron Perrino, Mike Ladd, Melanie Pain, Gabriel Rios & Shawn Smith a.o.
In 2015 Hendrik created the soundtrack for ‘D’Ardennen’ (The Ardennes), a movie by Robin Pront.
== Documentaries ==
=== Lotuk ===
Lotuk is Hendrik’s first feature-length documentary. It accompanies Arsenal’s third studio-album “Lotuk” and shows portraits of four American guest-vocalists on the album: Shawn Smith (Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed), John Garcia (Kyuss, Vista Chino), Cortney Tidwell and Grant Hart (Hüsker Dü). The documentary was selected for Docville, the International Documentary Film Festival in Leuven (BE)
=== Paper trails ===
In 2010 Hendrik created this six-part documentary for one of Belgium’s national TV-stations. Each episode highlights a literary classic.
* Ep. 1 – F. Scott Fitzgerald – Tender is the night
* Ep. 2 – Chinua Achebe – Things fall apart
* Ep. 3 – Stanislaw Lem – Solaris
* Ep. 4 – George Orwell – Burmese Days
* Ep. 5 – Roberto Bolaño – Los detectives salvajes
* Ep. 6 – Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood
== Films ==
=== Dance! Dance! Dance! (2014) ===
Featuring Ayumi Ito and Dean Fujioka, the film tells the story of a Japanese DJ fighting his inner demons. It is written by Hendrik Willemyns and Johnny Whitney (The Blood Brothers) and produced in collaboration with Japanese director Ken Ochiai. This mid-length feature film was turned into a film concert premiering at Film Fest Gent in 2014, with the soundtrack performed live by Arsenal.
=== Birdsong (2019) ===
For his second movie, Willemyns took on both the writing and directing. Featuring Natsuko Kobayashi, Kazuhiko Kanayama and Akaji Maro a.o., it shows the dark side of the music industry through the eyes of a young woman in Tokio, dreaming of a life as a musician. The soundtrack is created by Hendrik Willemyns and Tim Bruzon, which is again performed live in a series of film concerts. The movie was sold to several countries and HBO.
== Book ==
For Birdsong Willemyns created ‘Room of Imaginary Creatures’, a book of poems written from the point of view of a prostitute. It features works from musicians (Grant Hart, Johnny Whitney, Jenny Rossander, …) and poets (Chika Unigwe, An Qi, Fiona Pitt-Kethley, ...). The poems were illustrated by artists from all over the globe (Shintaro Kago, Ana Jaren, Kensuke Saito, LRNZ, Benjamin Hendliz, ...).
==In the media==
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== References ==
== External links ==
* Hendrik Willemyns on imdb
* Arsenal - official website
* All-Music Profile
* Hendrik Willemyns on gaana.com
* Hendrik Willemyns on hungama.com
* Hendrik Willemyns - Videos & Short Films About Hendrik
* Hendrik Willemyns | HLN
* Hendrik Willemyns (Arsenal) / Birdsong
* Hendrik Willemyns (Arsenal) over nieuw project "Birdsong": "In de muziek moet je risico's nemen, weer gevaarlijk zijn" 
Category:1972 births
Category:Belgian film directors
Category:Belgian documentary filmmakers
Category:Belgian film producers
Category:Belgian musicians
Category:Belgian filmmakers
Category:Belgian people