Adieu, cher Frank
A warm personality, a proud father, a passionate sound engineer and department head Frank Struys has passed away.
From the RITCS film school our first thoughts go to his wife and children who have lost their dear husband and father. The RITCS shares the sorrow of the passing of a passionate craftsman and enthusiastic teacher.
Starting out in the sixties, the ever upright and then very young Frank Struys helped determine the “sound” of legendary television series such as “Kapitein Zeppos” and “Johan en Alverman”. Even more so than in television, Frank has printed his idiosyncratic sound stamp on Belgian film history, from the 1970s to today. And that on both sides of the language border, in the diverse city of Brussels and abroad. He has built bridges between the Flemish and French speaking cinema and worked while holding his ‘perch’ in French or ‘boom’ in English on many national and international film sets like “Home Sweet Home” (1973), “Le Fils d’Amr est mort” (1975 ), “Brussels By Night” (1983), “Wait Until Spring Bandini” (1989), “Sur la terre comme au ciel” (1992), “Forgotten Street” (1999), “Unspoken” (2008), “Marina ”(2013) and dozens of other feature films.
He has advised and assisted generations of talented filmmakers, from Jean-Jacques Andrien and Marion Hänsel, through Stijn Coninx and Dominique Deruddere to Fien Troch. In 2007 Frank became head of sound design at the RITCS film school. With his decades of professional and life experience, he gave shape to a new sound education program and inspired many colleagues and students. Not only at the RITCS but also at the INSAS film school he shared his knowledge and craft. His pedagogical commitment was more than a full-time job. Even at the age of seventy Frank was still so open-minded and young at heart that no one could guess his age. Always with a book in his hand, a new idea in his head and a story in his heart, he was very present at the RITCS. Always in all modesty, always with passion and wisdom. An aggressive illness has struck strong Frank, but in our memories he remains that upright, proud man and father who has sincerely and intensely loved his wife, children, friends, colleagues and students. With Frank, the RITCS loses one of the pillars of the school and the sound design department. Even though he has now finally said goodbye, his professional knowledge, enthusiasm and generosity will always echo through the corridors of the RITCS and continue to inspire new generations of students and colleagues.
Thanks dear Frank.
On behalf of the RITCS Wouter Hessels.