Before the studio, there was a set.
Julien Hayet-Kerknawi grew up a dreamer — the kind of child who got distracted by small, unimportant-looking things while the world called them serious. That habit of noticing what everyone else walked past became the instinct behind everything he later built.
He started directing early and without patience for shortcuts: a thriller feature, Stolepark, in 2013, then a short film in 2015 — A Broken Man — about a farmer confronting the tragedy of the First World War. That short traveled to the Cannes Film Festival market and was recognized at WorldFest-Houston. It also refused to leave him alone.
For eight years, he rebuilt that twelve-minute story into a feature. Not by adding scale for its own sake, but by finding the hero's journey buried inside a fatalistic premise — the moment a man decides to fight instead of accept. That feature became The Last Front, shot in 30 days, starring Iain Glen.
The failures were part of the discipline: rewrites that didn't work, a U.S. release that took what he called "a titanic journey by itself." What shaped his worldview wasn't the premiere — it was the years of preparation nobody sees on screen.
Why Momentum Studios exists.
Most business content fails for the same reason bad films fail: nobody controlled what it was supposed to achieve.
Film sets run on a discipline most companies never get near — preparation, clear direction, tight schedules, honest review. Every shot has a reason. Every cut has a purpose. Momentum Studios exists to bring that same discipline to business, institutional, and public communication content: strategy, shoot, edit, deliver, review, decide. Every month. Controlled. Because visual storytelling doesn't just describe an organization — over enough time, at enough scale, it shapes how people trust it.
2024The Last Front
Set during the opening days of the First World War, as German forces advance through Belgium in what became known as the Rape of Belgium, a widowed farmer is pulled from the margins of history into the middle of it. Written and directed by Julien Hayet-Kerknawi, co-written with Kate Wood, and shot in 30 days after eight years of development.
Read the reviewsFifteen years, in order.
Stolepark
Directs an early thriller feature, learning the mechanics of tension and pace on a small crew and a tight budget.
A Broken Man
Writes and directs a short film about a farmer confronting the tragedy of the First World War — the seed of everything that follows.
Cannes & WorldFest-Houston
"A Broken Man" travels to the Cannes Film Festival market and is recognized at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Development begins on a feature-length expansion.
Eight years of development
What became "The Last Front" is rebuilt from a fatalistic short into a hero's-journey feature, shaped around Joseph Campbell's structure and years of rewrites.
The Last Front premieres
World premiere at Kinepolis Ghent on February 1, followed by Belgian theatrical release February 7 and a U.S. theatrical release August 9 — shot in 30 days.
Momentum Studios
Applies the discipline of a film set — preparation, coverage, review cycles — to business, institutional, and public-sector video from Antwerp.
On set, between setups.
As reported.
Measured, not exaggerated.
What doesn't change.
Craft
Every frame is planned before it's shot. Coverage exists because it serves the cut, not because it's easy to get.
Truth
A story earns its emotion honestly. No manufactured stakes, no borrowed sentiment.
Precision
Shot lists, schedules, review cycles. Discipline is what lets ambition survive contact with a real production day.
Beauty
Composition is not decoration. A well-built frame is how an audience knows where to feel something.
Speed
Thirty days shot a feature film. The same instinct for pace now runs monthly content systems for clients.
Resistance
"He decides to fight against it." The characters worth telling stories about choose the harder path.
Questions worth answering directly.
A Belgian filmmaker and the founder of Momentum Studios BV. He wrote and directed the 2024 feature The Last Front, starring Iain Glen, after eight years of development.
