While We’re Here is a hub for creative documentary film,
established by Annabel Verbeke and Frederik Nicolai.
Our focus is on very selective and exquisite creative documentary films with international potential and relevance.

____

Annabel Verbeke is an award-winning documentary director. In 2010, Annabel graduated magna cum laude at RITCS Film School in Brussels. Her graduation film 'Les Enfants de la Mer/Mère' / 'Children of the Sea' won 8 international awards and was selected by more than 20 international film festivals. Her next film 'We Will Remember Them' was the closing film of Visions du Réel 2018 and was the best watched documentary film on Flanders national broadcasters in the same year. In 2021, Annabel won the emerging filmmaker award at HotDocs with her film 'Four Seasons in a Day', which is part of the Borderline Collection.

Enjoying being a mentor for other filmmakers In 2022, she made a children’s documentary called ‘Aikiddo’ and a 5-parts documentary series ‘T(w)o Work',  co-directed by 5 DocNomads alumni. 

Today Annabel is co-directing a brand new project together with Olga Lucovnicova, which is coproduced by established producers from Romania, France and Moldova.

Besides het own projects, Annabel enjoys being a mentor for young filmmakers and tutor a 2 prominent European Film programmes: DocNomads, the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Documentary Filmmaking offered by a consortium of three leading European universities, and Pathfinder, the Joint International BA in Film, offers a truly European-wide educational experience, connecting you with leading film institutions across Europe.

Her full filmography and photographic work is available on www.annabelverbeke.com

____

Frederik Nicolai is an award winning documentary producer and author. He started his career by executive producing fiction series, feature and short films in Belgium and the Netherlands, such as the short films ‘Haun’ and ‘Carlo’ by Oscar nominated director Michael R. Roskam. From 2005 onwards he completely dedicated himself to author documentaries. His first production 4Elements by Jiska Rickels was opening film of Idfa 2006. Ever since Frederik produced and co-produced over 40 author successful documentary films & series and established a large international network of broadcasters, sales-agents, distributors, festivals,... 

According to Frederik, creating and producing documentary film is not just a profession. It is a passion, a mission based on the constant urge to unravel latent dynamics and unknown aspects of our society.

Frederik was associated with different companies as a producer and author before establish While We’re Here in 2020 together with Annabel. Before he produced films at Zeppers Film, FuWorks (Netherlands), CCCP and Off World in Belgium.

At Off World, Frederik developed his own creative documentary series Borderline, a collection of 6 films focussing on prominent and characteristic borders that surrounds or divides the European continent.

Besides producing, Frederik is also scriptwriter, board Member of De Ensor's (the Flemish Film Academy) coach for young filmmakers and lecturer and board member of Doc Nomads, a two-year, full time, international graduate program delivered by a consortium of three prominent European universities across three countries: Portugal, Hungary and Belgium.