Thierry Michel is a legend in the world of Belgian documentary filmmaking. Born in Charleroi, in 1952, his first films dealt with his immediate surroundings in the industrial and mining region known as the “black country." He quickly became one of the key figures in New Walloon Cinema, and alt-hough he would always remain loyal to socio-political subjects, he started making hybrid films in the 1970s that combined documentary and feature storytelling. Over the next decade, he became interest-ed in other continents, making several films in Brazil, Iran, Morocco, Somalia and, above all, Congo, the subject of his most acclaimed documentaries. His protagonists have included both individuals from the highest echelons of power (dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, the subject of "Mobutu: King of Zaire," and Moise Katumbi, governor of the country's richest province), as well as people who, for various rea-sons, had antagonistic relations with the authorities, such as human rights activist Floribert Chebeya, who was murdered in 2010, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, winner of the Sakharov Prize in 2014. In film after film, Thierry consistently exposed the neo-colonial ambitions of large corporations and the nepo-tism and corruption of the Congolese authorities, who, in the end, recognized him as persona non grata. His forced return to his homeland brought his career full circle. His newest documentary, "Children of Chance," portrays a new generation of inhabitants of the mining basin in the heart of Belgium, but this time with non-European roots.