Before dedicating his career solely to his art, Joost Vandebrug was a filmmaker. His highly acclaimed documentary, Bruce and the Outlaw, profoundly influenced Vandebrug's transition to art, shaping his exploration of themes such as human vulnerability, memory, and the passage of time.

For six years, Joost Vandebrug follows the street kid Nicu who lives in tunnels under the streets of Bucharest. The film came out in 2018 and won over a dozen international awards, received 5 stars in The Guardian, and was screened in over 50 film festivals around the world.

↑ Trailer

→ STREAM THE FILM HERE
(82 mins, ENG subs)

WINNER OF 11 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS (2018-2019)

PRESENTED BY:
Grain Media. Revolver Amsterdam.
Producer Andrea Cornwell. Joachim von Trommel.
Executive Producers Orlando Von Einsiedel. Raymond van der Kaaij. Noomi Rapace.

STYLE

BRUCE LEE & THE OUTLAW is a startling look at a community of kids as they come of age while facing extraordinary challenges. Yet it is the remarkable interest shown in their leader ‘Bruce Lee’ by international news crews that gives an almost fairytale quality to their story – a parallel world literally under the feet of a modern European city. This is a world that is complex and where fun, humour and love has as much place as hardship. The film includes clips from news show archives to highlight the ‘celebrity’ cult around Bruce Lee, so part of Nicu’s story is undoubtedly about a boy who believes he has a ‘superhero’ as a father.

But this is no fairytale, and this group face many real hurdles. We want to present them to our audience in a portrait that is as honest as possible without flinching from the toughest aspects of their lives.

Inspired by films such as the Oscar-nominated STREETWISE (about the street kids of Seattle) we want to invite the audience to identify with the group, but in a film that is rigorously constructed from actuality, archive and Nicu’s own voiceover.

The film is laid out in linear form, but bookended by Nicu’s 18th birthday party as he comes of age. Throughout the film, Nicu's voiceover also allows reflection and insight.

The film has a clear central arc from the lead character of Nicu and the filmmaking is as influenced as much from fiction as documentary. From the outset, there is an eerie fascination in seeing how much Nicu’s story mirrors Oliver in Oliver Twist: a young boy made homeless who is adopted by the charismatic leader of a gang of street children. Even the character Nancy is echoed by Nicu’s real life saviour, Raluca, who tries to give him the chance to live above ground, and knows that the fun and freedoms of tunnel-life come at a very heavy price.

Much like Linklater’s BOYHOOD there is the fascination of watching someone change from child to young adult over the course of the story. But while Bruce Lee is a flamboyant central character, it is Nicu who drives the story – a person who is changed by falling into the orbit of the King of the Tunnels, but emerges his own person by the end.

BRUCE LEE & THE OUTLAW aims to challenge viewers to imagine what it would be like if stories like Oliver Twist, or Peter Pan & the Lost Boys were real. As he grows up, Nicu does come to realize that his father isn’t in fact a superhero, but a real man with his own flaws and problems, and so at its heart, this film contains a very universal coming of age story.