Adil El Arbi makes all his films together with his companion Bilall Fallah.But the Edegem resident shares his life with Loubna Khalkhali, a journalist atthe editorial office of Rudi Vranckx at the VRT, who grew up in Hoboken. Theyoung couple has since moved to Brussels to live closer to the VRT, but LoubnaKhalkhali misses the Metropolis. “I’m always here on weekends,” she confessedin an interview with your newspaper.
It was a special year for Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah as well as for AdilEl Arbi and Loubna Khalkhali. The directors delivered their most personal filmever: Rebel, about a young man who ends up with IS and whose brother is alsorecruited. The film received critical acclaim and is now conquering the MiddleEast. Their series ran at the same time on the pay channel Disney + Ms.Marvel, about the young Muslim woman and superheroine Kamala. “She is atribute to my wife,” says Adil El Arbi. “Fighting for what is right, a greatsense of responsibility, down to earth … But Nakia, Kamala’s best friend, alsocontains elements of my wife. Wearing a headscarf and the colorful clothingstyle.”
Loubna Khalkhali does indeed wear her headscarf in an original way. “For mepersonally, it is not a political or religious symbol, but part of my culturalheritage. I’ve struggled with it, that’s why I wear it my own way, when andhow I want. Fashionable, with my hair visible. I like to combine my scarf withnice outfits and striking colors: this is how I try to counter the idea ofthe oppressed, invisible woman.”
Adil El Arbi and Loubna Khalkhali got married last year, but this summer theythrew a big party in Tangier. With the guest of honor the American actor WillSmith. “But my parents were more impressed by Rudi Vranckx,” says Loubna. Twodays later for Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah the damper came on the joy:Warner Bros canceled their unfinished film bat girl for financial reasons. Thefilm will never be shown. “A traumatic experience,” Bilall Fallah called it.
But in the fall, beautiful pictures of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah andLoubna Khalkhali on pilgrimage in Mecca appeared on social media. “One of thehappiest days of our lives,” they write.
On December 21, it was exactly ten years ago that Bart De Wever took the oathas mayor of Antwerp. He was already eight years chairman of the party and hestill is. 2022 was not really a pleasant year for De Wever. In the first placebecause one of his four children suffered from serious mental problems and hadto be hospitalized for a while. “I can only be as happy as my unluckiestchild,” the mayor said in an interview with your newspaper.
In the meantime, things rumble every now and then in his city coalition.Alderman Tom Meeuws (Vooruit) is regularly transverse. It even got to thepoint that members of Open Vld and Vooruit, coalition partners of De Wever,joined the demonstration against the cuts in the cultural world. “I think itis unwise to argue against something that you have decided yourself,” said DeWever.
In February he traveled to Colombia together with his Rotterdam colleagueAhmed Aboutaleb. They wanted to set up a collaboration with the Colombians inthe hope of stopping more cocaine at the source. In the meantime, one attackfollowed another in the Antwerp drug environment. Shots were fired at housesor heavy fireworks were set off, resulting in a lot of damage. The attackersalso regularly hit the wrong house.
Throughout the year, De Wever continued to press for more help for the policeand judiciary in Antwerp. Furthermore, the N-VA chairman did not miss anopportunity to criticize the federal Vivaldi government. “Our prosperity isbeing sacrificed on the altar of Alexander De Croo’s ambitions”, is just oneof his many frontal attacks on Vivaldi.
The only thing Gert Verhulst had never done in his professional life was tomake a serious talk show. This year it was so far. The first broadcast came inSeptember The Table of Four on the tube. Immediately one of the most talkedabout programs of the season. Verhulst got into a storm because he repeatedlyused the word ‘negro’ during a discussion about woke in the first broadcast.The outrage over this was so great that he had to apologize.
“I believe that when you talk about something, you should call the child byhis name,” said Verhulst. “The way in which, the tone and the use itself, weclearly made an error of judgment. I admit that. I have hurt people with thatand worse than I could have imagined beforehand.”
During and after the following episodes of Table of Four it remained calm. Theviewing figures hover around 200,000.
That is only a fifth of the number of viewers for Gert Verhulst when heparticipated in The Smartest Man In The World. That program averaged onemillion viewers. The best viewed episode of this season was the one with, yes,Gert Verhulst, Ella Leyers and Jonas Geirnaert: no fewer than 1,249,000viewers.
In between, Verhulst announced a new Studio 100 musical for next year: RedStar Line. Even more spectacular and grander than all previous ones.
When his dog Marcel died, Verhulst shared his grief with Flanders. On thereality soaps The Verhulstjes the viewers could follow Marcel’s healthclosely. Hundreds of animal lovers expressed their condolences on his passing.
Despite all the doom and gloom of education, there are still many truly happyteachers. Everywhere and in all schools, but especially in Alberreke primaryschool in Antwerp. This has been scientifically proven by the organizationKlassewerkplek
He wants to do something about the teacher shortage and has been putting thespotlight on schools in the Netherlands for years, where teachers are happy towork and continue to work. This year, Klassewerkplek conducted research inFlemish schools for the first time.
Urban primary school Alberreke in Antwerp has been officially declared the’primary school with the most job satisfaction’.
Naturally, that trophy makes director Bart Jonckers and all his colleagueseven happier than they already were. Alberreke is a small school. From thefirst kindergarten to the sixth grade there are 230 students and thirty peoplework there. More than 85% of them took part in the survey on their happiness.And apparently they were all very positive. How did that happen?
Bart Jonckers sees himself primarily as a listener and point of contact. “Itreat my colleagues like professionals,” he says. “I talk to them about theirvision on education. Every minute we can talk about education is a minutegained.”
His approach works, confirms care teacher Silke, who has been teaching inAlberreke for sixteen years. “Our bond is strong,” she says. “We all know eachother well, even though we are from different generations. We help each otherwhere we can and also see each other outside the school walls.”
The school was also in the news this year because it took in and guided sevenUkrainian refugee children quite soon after the start of the war.
On Thursday 5 January you will discover who is in 5th and 4th place.