Trivia

His films typically end with a death, which is portrayed not as a tragedy, but as a happy moving on where the deceased looks down happily at the world below. Between Heaven and Earth ends with a birth, but it is similarly handled the passing of a character into a new world. This pattern is continued in Mr. Nobody, where two deaths open the film and a unique twist on death at the end of the film conveys a wistful sense of happiness.

He delighted in working with children and for a while pursued a career as a circus clown.

His films especially focus on a respectful and sympathetic portrayal of people with mental and physical disabilities.

He is a Belgian film director, screenwriter and playwright.

All of Van Dormael's films contain surreal elements. In his first two films, these moments were few, like dancing flowers in Toto le héros or Georges flying around the room in Le huitième jour. Mr. Nobody makes much more extensive use of surreal imagery throughout the film.

At his birth, he had nearly been strangled by the umbilical cord and received an insufficient supply of oxygen. It was feared that he might end up mentally impaired. This trauma may partly account for the recurring themes in his films, which explore the worlds of people with mental and physical disabilities.

Van Dormael made his feature-length debut in 1991 with Toto le héros (Toto the hero), a tale about a man who believes his life was "stolen" from him when he was switched at birth, told in a complex mosaic of flashbacks and dream sequences, sometimes with almost a stream of consciousness effect. Toto le héros was ten years in the making as Van Dormael rewrote the script at least eight times. In 1985, two Belgian producers read a version of the script, and over the next five years they raised about $3.5 million, a huge amount for a Belgian production, all in public money from Belgium, the European Community and state television in France and Germany. Van Dormael premiered Toto le héros at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Camera d'Or. The film was released to the public later that year. Reviewing the film, The New York Times called him "a bright new talent to celebrate". It won five Joseph Plateau Awards, the César Award for Best Foreign Film, four European Film Awards, the André Cavens Award, and received a BAFTA nomination. Pierre Van Dormael's composed the soundtrack for the film, and since their first collaboration in 1980, he has composed the music to all his brother's films. Toto le héros propelled Van Dormael into the international spotlight as both a writer and director.

In 1995, Van Dormael participated in the 1995 project Lumière et compagnie (Lumière and Company). This work is an anthology of very short works (on average 50-60 seconds) contributed by international film directors in which each used the original Auguste and Louis Lumière's motion picture camera to make his film. The Kiss is the 52-second film made by director Jaco Van Dormael featuring actor Pascal Duquenne.

In 1998, Van Dormael participated in the project Spotlights on a Massacre: 10 Films Against 100 Million Antipersonnel Land Mines, a collection of short films that works as an anti-land mine campaign.

Both Toto le héros and Le huitième jour prominently featured characters with Down Syndrome, and portrayed these characters lovingly, emphasizing their childlike characteristics.

Van Dormael makes prominent use of nostalgic standards music, as well, featuring "Boum!" by Charles Trenet in Toto le héros and "Mexico" by Luis Mariano in Le huitième jour as recurring themes. Mr. Nobody used "Mr. Sandman" as its recurring musical theme.

Five years later, Le huitième jour (1996) played at Cannes, where his two leading actors, Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, were jointly awarded the prize for Best Actor.

He became a producer of children's entertainment with the Theatre de Galafronie, Theatre Isocele and Theatre de la Guimbarde.

After developing an interest in filmmaking, he enrolled at the INSAS in Brussels and later the Louis Lumière College in Paris. As a children's entertainer, childhood and innocence would become strong themes throughout his work.

In 1998 he was also a member of the jury at the 51st Cannes Film Festival.

Van Dormael's feature debut, Toto le héros (1991), won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the 1980s, Van Dormael directed a number of short films. While he was a student at the INSAS, he wrote and directed the children's story Maedeli la brèche. The short film received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the 1981 Student Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The following year Van Dormael directed Stade 81, a documentary short film about the Paralympic Games. He later directed the short films Les voisins (1981), L'imitateur (1982), Sortie de secours (1983), and De boot (1985). His most famous short of the period is È pericoloso sporgersi (1984) which won the Grand Prix in international competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Van Dormael spent his childhood travelling around Europe, before going on to study filmmaking at the INSAS in Brussels, where he wrote and directed his first short film, Maedeli la brèche (1981), which received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the Student Academy Awards.

In 1999, Toto le héros received the Best Belgian Screenplay 1984-1999 Award at the 13th Joseph Plateau Awards.

Van Dormael was raised in Germany until age seven, when his family returned to Belgium.