JEAN PHILIP DE TENDER

FILMS & SERIES

This series is on many a top 3 lists and ranking top across the board. So no surprise “Adolesence” is also on my list. For more than one reason: the script, the acting, the topic it addresses and the stunning one take photography. This series really touched me in so many ways and I was priviledged to hand a Rose d’Or award to the team.

Some series you hardly understand but they keep you captivated. “Severance” is such a series. I watched the two available seasons and perhaps I’ll get the answers in the next one. Let’s see.

On long hail flights I try to watch at least one film. I saw “The Last Showgirl” on my way to San Francisco. I know Pamela Anderson from the 90’s series “Baywatch”, which was not my cup of tea. It was more about half nudity than about acting, but what an actress she truly is when you see this film about a middle aged Las Vegas dancer struggling to survive in the entertainment world.

And the film that made me laugh out loud on a plane to Yerevan was “Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy”. I just love British romcoms!

EXHIBITIONS

2025 was a very good year and selecting a top three was very, very  hard. But here we go: 

Kelly James Marshall was a discovery for me. I had never heard of the artist  before but I was happy to discover “The Histories” in the  Royal Academy in London. Similarly “When We See Us, 100 years of black figurative painting” in Bozar Brussels introduced me to many black artists.

Jenny Saville,’s “The Anatomy of Painting” in the The National Portrait Gallery in London shows some of her massive, impressive paintings.

At the same National Portrait Gallery I also have to mention the Cecile Beaton exhibition. Photo Eysée in Lausanne showed Tyler Mitchell. I once again visited David Hockney, both in Mons and at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. I’m writing this from Paris where I also saw Gerhard Richter, which I definitely need to add to this list.

PERFORMING ARTS

Intention for 2026: see more performing arts. I didn’t see enough this year, but both Oscar and the Wolf in Sportpaleis Antwerpen and the ballet “Mirages” by Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa pleased me a lot.

BOOKS

Two medical terms I have been thinking about much more last year are “neurodiversity” and “invisible illness”. Ever since I wrote “Everything is a Story” I have learned that one should not easily judge another person. There is so much more about a person than what we see, or observer from the outside. I switch radio stations for my morning news and occassionaly listen to “La Grande Matinale” on France Inter. Nicolas Demorand is one of the main presenters. France was surpised when they learned through his book “Intérieur Nuit” that he is bipolar and how this steers his life unvoluntary. I raise my hat for him. His testimony must bring comfort to many.

On a totally different note I like the joy and flamboyance of Stanley Tucci. He is a great actor. i enjoyed him in “Conclave” but appreciated the two books I read of him even more.  “My Life through Food” and “What I Ate in One Year” are a great inspiration for Italian food and an insight in his life. I cannot wait for a next memoir of him to be published.

I have discovered Philippe Besson only a couple or years ago. He published roughly one book per year and in January “Vous Parler de Mon Fils”, a touching book about what teenage suicide does to their parents. 

You can find my full list of books, 2025 and beyond here.

RESTAURANTS

I love wining & dining. Often on the road, both professionally and privately, you will regularly find me in a restaurant. My health is important so I sport a lot and choose sound food. In whatever restaurant, fancy or not, I choose dishes that are simple. Anything too processed is no longer to my taste.

Not far from my parental home, in the Flemish Polders, we so much enjoyed Willem Hiele in Oudenburg. It’s rated one star by Michelin but is so much more. Many ingredients come from the nearby sea. The restaurant and the location are stunning and the chef Willem and his entire team really make you feel at home.

In Paris we had the opportunity to discover L’Arpege. The chef Alain Passard celebrates a cuisine dedicated entirely to the plant world. Vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers and the honey from their own beehives are at the heart of his cuisine. Forget about butter, fish, meat, cheese, … for once.