Our spring programming on VRT: Stefaan Degand, Francisco Schuster and Karine Claassen

VRT 1 and VRT Canvas just announced their spring programming and we're proud to announce no less than three upcoming tv-formats for the national broadcasting company. Find out below what to watch in the following months and thank us later.

Francisco Desir for VRT 1

21 years ago, in 2002, Francisco Desir Schuster was found abandoned in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. His parents adopted him when he was eight months old. He grew up with them, into who he is today. But he does not have much information about his first months of life, and he has a lot of questions about that period. "Where did I come from? How old was my mum when I was born? Do I have any siblings? Are my biological parents still alive?"  

In January 2023, Francisco celebrated his 21st birthday, a special day for him. It was the start of his search for a missing piece of identity. He dreams of returning to Haiti and meeting his family there. He wants to tell them that he is doing well and that he does not blame them for anything. For a year, Francisco sets out to find the missing puzzle pieces in his story. You can see the result in this four-part series.

Maestro Degand for VRT CANVAS

Following in the footsteps of Thomas Vanderveken (Thomas speelt het hard) and Hanne Decoutere (Hanne danst), actor Stefaan Degand kicks off the new year with a musical challenge.

As a little boy, the actor dreamed of becoming a conductor. He stood for hours at a stretch on the coffee table, using a twig from the garden as a baton, conducting symphonies. Stefaan never became a conductor, but he still loves classical music dearly. For Stefaan, Johannes Brahms' Fourth Symphony is the most important composition of all. For almost forty years, this work has been his musical guide, his emotional beacon and of great comfort in his life.

Stefaan dreams of conducting Brahms' Fourth once: the entire 40-minute symphony by heart, with the 80-strong Belgian National Orchestra, at a sold-out Bozar. He now gets the chance to make that dream come true, but will he succeed in memorising the entire score? And will the orchestra's professional musicians accept his amateurish instructions? Can he handle the stress?

Tune it to Maestro Degand, from Wednesday 10 January, at 21:20 on VRT CANVAS.

Op een ander for VRT CANVAS

In Op een ander, Karine Claassen visits ordinary people in unusual and hard-to-access communities. Those worlds seem far from our bed, but are often closer to us than we might imagine. Karine tries to explore, layer by layer, what drives certain Flemings and tries to get to the bottom of eclectic characters in her own way.

In this first series, she goes to the ultra-conservative priest-brotherhood Sint-Pius X. Three priests and a friar live together in the heart of Antwerp in a church that keeps growing, despite the traditional and conservative values and customs it stands for.

Karine also immerses herself in the wonderful virtual world of Second Life. The Mark Zuckerbergs of this world are spending billions on The Metaverse, while the 20 year old Second Life still has its regular audience. Karine wonders who the people are who still spend hours a day here, and bumps into some surprises.

De Bereklauw is a commune near Leuven. It all seems very "kumbaya" at first, but gradually Karine discovers that the reality is less rosy. And finally, she lives to the beat of the Heppenheimer-Pauwels family, who form Circus Pipo. She discovers that the arrival of a new member exposes an generation gap.

Op een ander, from Tuesday 23 April on VRT CANVAS.