More than 1.5 million people died in these camps in the 1930s and 40s, and the extraordinarily harrowing tales of survival are still being told - most recently last year in Dutch director Marleen Gorris' English-language film Within the Whirlwind.

Now D'Alcantara is telling the story of her grandmother in her first full-length feature film, Beyond the Steppes.

"After having spent three years in Siberia, my grandmother crossed Uzbekistan and Iran and arrived at Bagdad, where she waited for the end of the war," says the Brussels-based director. "After that, she sailed on the Nile into Africa, travelling to the Congo, where my grandfather awaited her."

It turns out that D'Alcantara's grandfather had studied in Belgium and, not able to locate his family back in Poland after the war, returned here. With "a little help from some Belgian friends from the old school days," he found a job with chemical group Solvay in the Belgian Congo.

D'Alcantara's grandmother didn't speak about her past very often. The director was a teenager when her grandmother died and has pieced together the story as much as she could from writings her grandmother left behind. Research proved that her grandmother's experiences and harsh journey to reach safety were similar to other stories. "My grandmother was the wife of an officer who belonged to the country's intelligentsia," she says. "Millions of Poles were deported to Russia, along with other potential ‘subversive' elements....the entire social elite was eliminated."

After their reunion in Congo, the couple had several children and eventually returned to Belgium, settling in Brussels.

Rather than make a biopic, D'Alcantara, 33, used her grandmother's story as an inspiration on which to hang a fictional narrative. Beyond the Steppes follows young Polish mother Nina (Agnieszka Grochowska) as she desperately tries to get the help needed for her ill child in a labour camp. When all fails, she sets out across Kazakhstan with a group of nomads in search of medicine.

In a style that recalls the films of Flemish director Peter Brosens and his American partner Jessica Woodworth (Khadak, Altiplano), the huge political and social issues are told through a personal portrait. "We wanted to talk as little as possible about the major historical events," explains D'Alcantara. "The context is actually not more than a pretext to tell that intimate story."

The film was shot in Kazakhstan in both Polish and Russian, a situation in fact not new to D'Alcantara, whose first film, the mid-length documentary La tercera vida (The Third Life), was shot in Spanish. "The problems you meet are not the ones you had been expecting," she says about shooting in remote locations and in languages she doesn't speak. "Language and distance are practical issues that can be solved. The most difficult thing was that the film I had in mind was not the film the Kazakh crew had in mind. It took a lot of effort to clearly bear in mind which film I was making: not a war film, not a historical film and certain not an epic film - but an intimate, personal film, a personal journey."

Three times the charm
Both D'Alcantara and the film's lead actress are present to introduce Beyond the Steppes, which opens the Cinema Troïka weekend at Bozar, an initiative of the Belgian Presidency of the EU that presents contemporary cinema from Spain, Belgium and Hungary (the past, current and future countries that consecutively hold the EU presidency). The line-up of more than 15 features, documentaries and shorts is nothing short of excellent.

From Spain, Mar Coll won a wealth of awards this year for her film Tres dias con la familia (Three Days with the Family), which breathes new life (so to speak) into a much-used plot of an extended family forced to come together for the funeral of its patriarch.

Among the films from Hungary is Pál Adrienn, the second feature from award-winning director Ágnes Kocsis. It is the story of a woman who impulsively chases a childhood memory in order to escape her unhappy life.

Your chance to see the best of recent Belgian cinema is right here. Besides Beyond the Steppes, you get La Régate (The Boat Race), which was all the talk of the Francophone International Film Festival last year in Namur, taking home the public prize. It's Bernard Bellefroid's first film and follows the story of a teenager training for rowing championships while struggling with an abusive home life.

You'll also see the new film by Sam Garbarski, who last gave us the crowd-pleasing Irina Palm, starring Marianne Faithful as a grandmother who goes into the erotic hostess business. This time, in Quartier Lointain, he catapults a middle-aged man backwards in time to experience his teenage years all over again. It's another case of a worn- out storyline getting a fresh treatment, and the critics are pleased.

In Flemish film, Turquaze, Kadir Balci's story of a young Turkish man dealing with love and racism in Ghent, will screen, as well as Pulsar, the new film by Alex Stockman that finds a young man (Matthias Schoenaerts) turning paranoid as technology takes over his life and threatens to ruin his relationship. Pulsar won't open in Belgium until January.

Many filmmakers and actors will be on hand during the weekend to discuss their films before or after screenings, including all of the afore-mentioned directors. Subtitle languages vary, so check the schedule carefully.

22-24 October
Bozar Ravensteinstraat 23 Brussels
www.bozar.be

More gifts from the EU presidency
It's unfortunate that the six-month Belgian Presidency of the European Union, which lasts until the end of the year, has been somewhat eclipsed in its own country by the ongoing government conflicts, because it is responsible for some outstanding events. Here are some highlights, but a complete list can be found at www.eutrio.be

Innovation Festival of Kortrijk The people of Kortrijk have been asked to turn in their innovative ideas, some of which have been developed into products or projects. This event, combined with the city's big interior design festival Interieur (see page 13), puts Kortrijk at the centre of creativity and design this month. Until 25 October
www.innovationfestival-kortrijk.be

Building for Brussels How can architecture and urban planning provide answers to the current challenges in Brussels? Find out at this exhibition in Bozar that looks at the five biggest challenges that face the capital and how other major European cities might help. Until 18 November
www.bozar.be

Rally in the European Quarter Students in the final two years of secondary school are invited to gather at BIP (Brussels Info Place), where they will be given a GPS and taken on a journey through the European Quarter, completing tasks on the theme of "Europe in Brussels". Until 30 November
www.blbe.be