Loesje seems alive in the video clip her parents had made with the song dedicated to their daughter Unicorn. In addition to the 7-year-old girl herself, who died in an accident in February, her classmates from the Mayor Marnix School, one year older, sister Ella and mother Nathalie can also be seen. Despite the austere production, this produces poignant images.
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The story of the song Unicorn is known. Struck by the grief that befell André de Laat and Nathalie Joossens in February after they lost their daughter under the wheels of a trailer, fellow sufferer Guillaume Van der Stighelen wrote a beautiful text about Loesje, using her favorite cuddly toy as a metaphor. Guillaume could empathize like no other in the drama. His own son Matti also died ten years ago, after a banal fall.
The language virtuoso and GvA columnist passed on his melancholy, but also hopeful words about the girl to fellow Grungblaver and friend Jean Bosco Safari, who set them to music. The song was played at Loes’ funeral and recorded at the end of October for the CD full of songs that her daddy had made as a permanent memory of Loes and as a thank you to everyone who sympathized with them.
The CD will be presented on December 18 in De Kaekelaar in Schoten, but the video clip is already ready. The clip was made by the experienced documentary maker Filip Huygens, who is friends with papa André. He often worked for Rudi Vranckx (Canvas) among others.
Slow motion
Koen Wauters and Jean Bosco Safari (background) sing the lyrics. — © RR
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“We asked Koen Wauters and Jean Bosco Safari, who also sang the lyrics for the CD, to get together for a while. Filip has portrayed them very soberly in his characteristic slow motion style”, papa André is delighted with the end result. “We gathered her classmates on a Wednesday afternoon in their trusted school. Among other things, they clamber on the climbing frame, on which our Loes loved to take crazy cures. The unicorn cuddly toy is always there. So all the friends are reunited for four minutes.”
Thanks to fragments of home video, Loes is also emphatically in the picture: skipping, dancing and smiling straight into the camera with her twinkling blue eyes. That is a bit of a swallow, also for your reporter. Another time she happily jumps up and down on the seesaw in a playground with big sister Ella and her mom. Emotional is the scene of two girlfriends who, with their unicorn in hand, wave goodbye to Loesje in a pool of water, in which the ripple suggests her presence.
![Loes' classmates also play in the 'Unicorn clip.](https://i0.wp.com/img.nieuwsblad.be/ANdhirqrdwkeXxy0XStZO3wis0E=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.nieuwsblad.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2021%2F12%2F10%2F9b24bc43-67b7-4aae-9454-de9c1c462c81.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
Loes’ classmates also play in the ‘Unicorn clip. — © RR
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Violent
Isn’t it too intense to view those images as parents? “The first times came in hard,” says André. “The already beautiful music and emotions that lie in it are enhanced by the images. But I think it is very appropriate, partly because of the use of not too bright natural colours. It is good that Loes is remembered as she was. Everyone can see that. It’s even heartwarming.”
“I’m going to put the clip on our for Loes– website and my YouTube channel in the hopes that he will find his way through social media or maybe a television channel. I am extremely grateful to maker Filip, who has done this completely selflessly for us.”
![Filip Huygens, the cameraman and documentary maker who made the clip selflessly for Loesje's parents, here together with his regular sound engineer Maarten Leemans.](https://i0.wp.com/img.nieuwsblad.be/ZzF9--GoxcCWtGnqbeoxyHAXJ7U=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.nieuwsblad.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2021%2F12%2F10%2F93708187-72e1-4809-bb39-c1e10d87429c.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
Filip Huygens, the cameraman and documentary maker who made the clip selflessly for Loesje’s parents, here together with his regular sound engineer Maarten Leemans. — © jaa
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