GERLACH is a loving and humorous portrait of arable farmer Gerlach, who has been farming in the shadow of Amsterdam Airport for sixty years. Around him, he has seen everything change. His simple wooden house is now wedged in between a Shell petrol station, a McDonalds outlet and various distribution centers. With great dedication he cares for his beets and grains, while property developers eye his land and climate change disrupts his harvest. Despite everything that comes his way, Gerlach stands tall with his down-to-earth humor, helped by his loving brothers and friends. His little house is the raindrop in which the world is reflected, existentialist and absurdist.
Awards and nominations:
Best Dutch Film award IDFA 2023
Nominated Biografilm festival /2024 Italy
Nominated for Dutch Directors Guild award 2023
Forum of Directors Award/ Vevam, Dutch film festival 2024
CineEco Honorable mention international competition / Portugal, 2024
Audience Award Provinzale Festival Germany /2024
Festivals:
Biografilm festival
Shanghai International film festival
Macau international filmfestival
Funf Seen festival /Germany
Beholders film festival
Noorderzon festival
Provinciale Eberswalde festival
English trailer
The incredible life story of a Tatar soldier who was captured by the Nazis during WWII. His daughter Sana searches the past to understand her silent father. As she accompanies Sana in her journey, the filmmaker excavates film archives, to find traces of those millions of Soviet soldiers, who fell victim of two dictators: Hitler and Stalin. Through the technique of ‘re-appropriating the archive’, the filmmaker searches for the soul of the image, for those subtle remnants of those millions who were omitted from the narrative of the war. Softly, but determinately the film starts breaking sixty years of silence.
**** Guardian "an extraordinary tale, arguably worthy of Boris Pasternak and David Lean", by Peter Bradshaw
STREAM TURN YOUR BODY TO THE SUN ON TRUE STORY
****NRC, ****Volkskrant, ****Parool
Winner of GOLDEN CONCH MIFF
Nominated for the Prix Italia 2023 / Best European TV Documentary
Sales: TASKOVSKI FILM
Produced by DOCMAKERS
World Premiere: IDFA 2021 - International Competition, 🏆 Mumbai International Film Festival 2022 - Golden Conch Award, DocAviv 2022, True/False Festival 2022, Biografilm Festival 2022, Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival 2022, Parnu Film Festival 2022, fARAD Film Festival 2022, Docu Tex 2022, Documentarist Istanbul 2022, Inconvenient Films 2022, Palić Film Festival 2022, Ambulante Mexico film festival 2022, Hot Springs International Film Festival 2022, Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2022, Message to Man International Film Festival 2022, Muestra de Cine Internacional Memoria Verdad Justicia 2023
A FIRST PERSON DOC THAT DEALS WITH POST-MEMORY AND INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA IN RUSSIA
Dutch filmmaker Aliona of half Russian decent is given an inheritance of six square meters of a small, wooden house in a Russian village. She embarks on a journey back into the hidden history of her family that experienced the unimaginable.
Awards Interreligious Jury Award Dokleipzig, Golden Calf/DutchOscar 2018; Life Tales Award Biografilmfestival Bologna 2018; Grand Prix Artdocfest Moscow 2017; Dutch Directors Guild Award Documentary 2017; Honorary Mention Intern. comp. Dokleipzig; Beirut Int Women Filmfestival Best Documentary Award 2019; Femcine9 Megjor Largometraje Internacional, Chile 2019;Dutch Filmfund Chrystal Film Award for 20.000 audience in Dutch Arthouse Cinema's in 2017.
PRODUCER: ZEPPERS FILM
“If there is no hurry any time is just as useful”
(Gertude Stein)
The ultimate portrait of an artist, with hilarious moments. One of the best documentaries of IDFA 2013’ J.P. Ekker, Dutch Filmcritic
“Understanding something is overrated, we better take not-understanding as a starting point to have a relationship with the things around us.”
Suchan Kinochita is is an internationally well-known Dutch artist with German and Japanese roots. The filmmaker makes ’15 attempts’ to make a film about her art. Every attempt is a playful scene situated in the EU Capital of Brussels. Unpredictable and daring.
Suchan Kinoshita in a film by Aliona van der Horst; camera/editing with Maasja Ooms, sound Rik Meier, produced by De Familie, broadcasted by HUMAN
Don't Shoot the Messenger tells the story of the Occupy Amsterdam movement through the eyes of four individuals, united by the same goal: to make a change in the world they are living in. They are filmed during and after the protests.
Don't Shoot the Messenger is a collaborative film about the occupy movement in the Netherlands. Made by five documentary directors. Broadcasted by Dutch Public TV NCRV in 2013
A MEDITATION OF FECUNDITY, CHILDBIRTH AND THE EXPERIENCE OF MENSTRUATION.
A finely wrought auteurist documentary that combines several complex elements. It is a portrait of a Japanese pianist who is also an innovative visual artist. And it is a meditation of fecundity, childbirth and the experience of menstruation: a courageous approach to a subject that remains a taboo in many cultures. It is explored with an elegance and sophistication that deepens our understanding of the relationship between body and mind and a mature and forgiving meditation on the great unanswerable questions.
Starring acclaimed Japanese pianist and visual artist TOMOKO MUKAYAMA
Awards: Special Mention Golden Dove DokLeipzig 2011, DOXA Vancouver Feature Documentary award 2012, Opening EDOC festival, opening Cairo Women Documentary festival
ABOUT THE INDOMINABLE LIVE FORCE, MEMORY AND MOURNING IN AN IRANIAN CITY
Voices of Bam offers a completely different portrayal of disaster-one far more sensitive than mere reportage-as it accords its subjects enormous dignity while giving them an opportunity to express themselves with a rare, simple eloquence. The powerful earthquake that struck the ancient city of Bam in southeastern Iran on December 26, 2003, killed over 43,000 people. Much of the city, including a 2,000-year-old mud-brick citadel that was universally revered as one of the world's architectural heritage sites, was completely leveled. Inspired by snapshots uncovered in the rubble-which are the only remaining tangible reminders of life before the quake-the filmmakers almost seem to be overhearing the city's inhabitants, who try to go on with their lives one year later. The film thus speaks volumes about the relationship between men and women in Iran, and about their relationship to God. The grief and guilt expressed by the survivors strike a universal chord, and the indomitable life force they embody is unforgettable. With an eye like late Dutch doc artist Johan van der Keuken and a haunting mood like the opening of Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire, Voices of Bam is smart, emotional, thoughtfully crafted and reveals the culture in a profound way.
CO- DIRECTED WITH MAASJA OOMS
Awards Prix du Jury Interreligieux Visions du Reel Nyon 2006; Special Jury Award Tribeca FF 2006; Best Feature Documentary Dokufest Kosovo 2006; Special Mention Amnesty Award CPHDOX 2006; Best Documentary Int. FF Bucharest 2007; Nomination Best Sound design Dutch FF 2006
FESTIVALS IFF Rotterdam 2006; Hot Docs Toronto 2006; Green FF Seoul 2006; Dokfest Madrid 2006; Israel Womans Filmfestival 2006; Batumi IFF Georgia 2006; Frankfurt IFF 2006; Docupolis Barcelona ; Message to Man FF St. Petersburg 2006; Netherlands FF 2006; Baja California FF 2006; Milwaukee FF 2006; Edinburgh IFF 2006; Dok Leipzig 2006; Calgary IFF 2006; Tempo IFF Stockholm 2006; Documentary Reykjavik 2007; IFF Tessaloniki 2007; It’s All True Sao Paulo 2007; Melbourne IFF 2007; Argentina IFF 2007
PRODUCER: ZEPPERS FILM
Farsi spoken, English subtitles 90’
shot on arri mini 16mm film
A short, almost wordless portrait of artist Folkert de Jong.
Folker de Jong is best known for his theatrical, narrative tableaux that address themes of war, greed and power. “When I watch the news or follow the world by the media,” de Jong stated in conversation with critic Steven Cox in 2013, “I can’t believe what I am hearing and seeing, it seems like a déjà vu, something is repeating itself.” A sense of tragedy and absurdity, a comically desperate psychological state, permeates his work, particularly through the sculptural material for which de Jong became known: industrial Styrofoam and Polyurethane insulation foams. In the decade since, he has been an influential force for a new generation of artists.
Mutanten, zombies, monsters, maniakken, schedels, geweren, skeletten: het universum van Folkert de Jong (Alkmaar, 1972) is duister, morbide en absurdistisch. In de sculpturen die hij maakt, verwijst hij zowel naar de geschiedenis en beeldhouwkundige traditie als naar thema’s uit de popcultuur zoals horror, stripverhalen en fantasy. In tegenstelling tot klassieke materialen als brons en marmer werkt De Jong met alledaagse materialen als styrofoam en purschuim. Materialen die eveneens bepalend zijn voor De Jongs kenmerkende kleurgebruik: babyblauw, de kleur van styrofoam, en vuil geel, de kleur van purschuim.
You can find the poetry of Boris Ryzhy at www.borisryzhy.com
Winner of IDFA Midlength Documentary 2008
The Russian poet Boris Ryzhy (1974-2001) was handsome, gifted and achieved already considerable literary fame in his country. He is seen as the voice of the Last Soviet Generation. So why did he take his own life at the age of 26? A quest to find the answer takes the filmmaker to the criminal neighbourhood in the cold industrial city of Yekaterinburg where Boris grew up. What emerges is a penetrating portrait of the Perestroika generation, who lost all purpose, becoming a generation of criminals and bodyguards. But despite all, Ryzhy loved this unhappy world, populated half by prisoners and half by their guards. He tried to transform its ugliness into the philosophers gold of poetic prosody.
Awards: IDFA Best Midlength Documentary Award 2008, Best Feature Documentary Edinburgh Int. Filmfestival 2009, Jury Prize FIFA Montréal 2009, Dutch Filmcritic's Award2009, Dutch Directors Guild Award 2009
Screened at more than 30 filmfestivals, broadcasted by Dutch Public TV, VPRO in 2009
DoP & Editor, co-creator: Maasja Ooms
Produced by Zeppers Films&TV
This film is as much about the people who work in Russia's renowned museum as it is about the glorious art works housed in this St. Petersburg institution. For these workers the Hermitage has been a safe haven from the tumultuous events of Russian history and the hardships of contemporary Russian life. Indeed, each of them explains how their personal traumas and difficulties have been transformed by having developed an intimate relationship with a favorite piece of art. For them, surrounded everyday by remarkable beauty, the Hermitage has become a place of emotional healing.
"As the documentary progresses, we begin to get the sensation that this is truly a drama about people and the passage of time, and not so much about art. Yet it is about the museum, as much as this reflects the emotional and spiritual condition of the people to whom we are introduced. Highly original in scope, The Hermitage Dwellers takes us on a journey of a country that has been victimized by dictatorship and buoyed by the spirit of its people."—Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theology, Philosophy, History, and Science
“Besides being a superlative movie and indeed a work of art in itself, this film is ideal for teaching anthropology, ethnography and ethnographic method."—Anthropology Review Database
"A Must-See! Offers a fond (and often moving) glimpse behind the scenes at Russia's fabled Hermitage Museum."—Entertainment Weekly
"What a powerful film this is! I can't recommend it highly enough."—Leonardo Reviews
AWARDS: 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference; Grand Prize, 2006 Montreal Festival of Films on Art; Winner, Best Cultural Program, Dutch Academy Awards (2003)
for Russian speaking audience
для русскоязычной аудитории
Эрмитажники, третий эпизод “Пустые рамы” Эрмитаж во время великой отечественной войны
Эрмитажники, четвертый эпизод, “ Тихий саботаж”
Эрмитажники, 5ый эпизод, “остатки времени”
A TENDER ACCOUNT OF FAMILY HISTORY CAUGHT UP IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
After the spring of '68 is a film about falling in love across a political, cultural and geographic divide. It tells of Simon, a Dutch student in Moscow, who meets and marries the Russian Zoya in the spring of 1968. Simon returns to the Netherlands, expecting his wife to follow shortly afterwards But then the Prague Spring ends with the brutal Soviet Invasion and this historical tragedy is in some unexpected way connected with Zoya’s fate. Director Aliona van der Horst relates her parents' struggle in this tender account of family history caught up in international politics.
Dutch Academy Award Best TV Documentary 2001.
ABOUT THE ABUSE OF PSYCHIATRY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES IN THE SOVIET UNION
Hanna Michailenko, an Ukrainian schoolteacher from Odessa was locked up in a psychiatric ward for eight years for refusing to work for the Soviet Secret Service, the KGB. She was finally released by Nancy Reagan.
Graduation film at the Dutch Film Academy 1997,47 minutes, broadcasted on Dutch Public TV, NCRV Document
Awards: Dutch Student 'Tuschinski' Award; Silver Spire Award Golden Gate San Fransisco; Student Award International Documentary Association USA
NRC / Laura Starink / Newspaper Dutch
DoP: Maasja Ooms, sound Ludo Keeris, editing Vonne Geraedts, coach Jessica Gorter/Froukje Bos/Michael Rabiger, production Jorien van Nes
45’, documentary, winner student IDA award
45 min, Nederlands ondertiteld
Installation on six screens about the interaction between a mother and a daughter.
“It started as an idea about the disappearing language and voice of my mother, who was diagnosed with a progressive neurological illness. But the illness progressed so fast that she soon lost her ability to speak before I even could start this project. All her power to communicate resided now in her right hand, the only part of her body she was still able to move. It was her only way to communicate with the world. So our hands communicate. It is a searching, confusing but beautiful and loving communication. Sometimes her hand reminds me of an old turtle.
Aliona van der Horst
i.s.m. Carla van de Puttelaar
2010
Image: Carla van de Puttelaar www.carlavandeputtelaar.com
Sounddesign and music: Florian de Backere www.backere.com
HD, 36 min. loop, six screens
MoMA Moscow 2011, 6 more Russian museums, Stedelijk Museum Den Bosch.Exhibition VotH, curated by Marjan Teeuwen.
Art historican Parisa Damandan rescued the pictures from the rubbles of Bam after the devastating earthquake of December 26 2003. Tens of thousands of photos of families, weddings, gatherings were rescued to be returned to the survivors of the earthquake. 'For 'voices of Bam' I asked people of Bam to talk to the pictures of their loved lost ons, a practice which is far more common in Iran than it is in Europe. Their monologues were so powerful, I contemplated to make a 'black film', only using their voices and subtitles on a black screen. When asked to contribute to the photofestival of Naarden I finally made this film, which was shown in a container accompanied by pictures rescued by Parisa Damandan.
“In de ruimte van de Iraanse fotografe en kunsthistorica Parisa Damandan zijn officiële portretten en familiekiekjes te zien van Iraniërs. Uit de begeleidende tekst blijkt dat de foto’s het enige is dat er van deze mensen overbleef: bij een aardbeving op Tweede Kerstdag 2003 stierf de helft van de bevolking van de Iraanse stad Bam, deze foto’s gingen niet verloren. Damandan kwam drie dagen na de ramp in de stad om te helpen. Ze concludeerde dat ze het best kon helpen met datgene waar ze goed in is: het veiligstellen, restaureren en publiceren van de foto’s die begraven lagen onder het puin. Op de plek waar eerst grote fotowinkels waren geweest, begon ze te graven, op zoek naar oud, soms nog niet ontwikkeld filmmateriaal, waarop een momentopname van het leven van de stad net voor de ramp was vastgelegd. Inmiddels heeft Damandan zo’n tienduizend foto’s verzameld en probeert ze de overlevenden de foto’s van hun familieleden terug te geven.
In de ruimte naast de foto’s uit Bam is een film te zien met bijna alleen maar tekst: documentairemaakster Aliona van der Horst nodigde de inwoners van Bam uit om in haar hotelkamer tegen de foto’s te gaan praten. Van der Horst hoorde van het fotoproject van Paradan en zocht haar een jaar na de aardbeving op. Ze zag hoeveel invloed foto’s hadden op het straatbeeld: overal waren afbeeldingen van vermiste of overleden dierbaren te zien, de kapper bekende haar hele gesprekken te voeren met de foto van zijn omgekomen dochter. In de film zie je eerst de foto die de mensen meenamen, kiekjes zoals Damandan verzamelt. Dan komen de verhalen, vaak gefluisterd, in het Perzisch, met niets anders dan de vertaling in beeld. De achterblijvers vertellen de overledene over hun dagelijkse zorgen, delen hun goede herinneringen en praten over het gemis. Je kijkt mee naar de beelden in de hoofden van de overlevenden. Dichterbij kun je haast niet komen.”
Joke de Wolf21 mei 2007 TROUW
