Therapist dancing as reaction to George and Stella.©David Jacowbski

SHORTFILM - No Exit: A Session

No Exit: A Session comes from a reaction to how we tend to stay inside our own perspective. What we’ve experienced, what we recognise, that’s what we naturally connect with. It’s easier to agree with what feels familiar than to really try to understand something that doesn’t.

With No Exit, we wanted to create a space where different perspectives can exist at the same time, even if they are a bit simplified or stereotypical. The goal is not to present one truth, but to give room to the emotions and frustrations that come up when people are not really meeting each other, when they speak from emotion rather than from a place of clarity. In those moments, people don’t always say what they truly mean. Instead of having a conversation, they end up talking next to each other.

Partners: DeSingel

Initiator

Facilitator

Director

Four festival selections · 2026

Official selections

No Exit: A Session has been selected by four film festivals.

  • Frame x Frame Dance Film Fest — Official Selection 2026 laurel

    Frame x Frame Dance Film Fest

    United States
  • BREEDBEELD kortfilmfestival — Official Selection 2026 laurel

    BREEDBEELD kortfilmfestival

    Belgium
  • Boston Dance Film Festival — Official Selection 2026 laurel

    Boston Dance Film Festival

    United States
  • Lights Dance Festival — Official Selection 2026 laurel

    Lights Dance Festival

    United States

Images

Therapist writing something down.©David Jacowbski
Therapist looking at his notes.©David Jacowbski
Therapist looking at George and Stella.©David Jacowbski
George and Stella looking at each other.©David Jacowbski
Therapist dancing as reaction to George and Stella.©David Jacowbski
Stella answering the therapist's question through movement.©David Jacowbski
George embodying anger and frustration through movement©David Jacowbski
George embodying anger and frustration through movement©David Jacowbski
The therapist looks at George, puts his hand on top of George's shoulder and tries to calm him down.©David Jacowbski

Synopsis

A couples therapy session in the 1960s.

A man. A woman. A therapist.

What unravels at first seems like a familiar dynamic: frustration, misunderstanding, imposed silence. The woman speaks. The man reacts. The tension builds. But nothing follows the expected therapeutic script.

The therapist refuses to remain distant. He doesn't soften emotions, he steps into them directly. He amplifies what surfaces: anger, hurt, power, silence, and uses empathy to not soothe, but confront.

What emerges is a triangle of perspectives. Who is right?

Who is being heard? Who feels attacked?

No Exit invites the viewer to take a position and to question it again. Depending on whom one follows, the 'truth' begins to change. What feels frustrating to one may feel liberating to another.

The film leaves behind a mirror and perhaps the unsettling thought that change rarely begins with a single conversation. ·

Therapist looking at George and Stella.©David Jacowbski
Katya and Finn in searching in vain©David Jacowbski

Team

  • Director: Denis Inghelbrecht
  • Producer: Cléry Khedhir
  • Costume Designer & Make-up Artist: Ayla Vitale
  • Videographer: David Jacobs

  • Dancers:
    • Manu Mpasi Garcia
    • Bianca Neyre Caroppo
    • Cléry Khedhir


Residency:

  • DeSingel, ON_OFF_SPACE